REbirth of Chaos
by Hanako-chama
Summary: In present Aernas, peace rules over. But evil is still lurking about and rising hastily. So the fate of mankind now returns to the palm of GC. But problem is, in the new world where fantasy is lost and beliefs are just nonsense. How can they achieve the power to rival against evil? And especially when the world sees GC as a mere fairy tale now. Full of poems and nonsense like that.
1. Prologue

HEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY! =D

I'm back. Yeah. I've got a little freedom now...

So here's a rewritten version of Rebirth of Chaos. I've made some changes here and there in the story plot as well. And poems! YES! The poems~! They've become something symbolic to the story that I've kept them. And modified their purpose as well and what not and whatever.

Ah and Azin and Rin. Those two are kicked out for the fact I am not confident in writing about them as well as the information I've had about them. So on the safe side, they're not included in the story. What was that? Lime? Nope, no idea. XP

* * *

**Rebirth of Chaos - A Grand Chase Fan Fiction  
Story © Hanako-chama  
Grand Chase © KOG & SG Interactive**

Prologue: The Oath & the Song

The red headed savior glanced at the horizon. There, their enemies lay waiting for them to come. For the final battle that ends this war of darkness once and for all. She swallowed back all her fear, all her worrying, letting her passion to fight for the freedom of all. She took a quick glance back.

All her companions wait behind her, waiting for her usual shout to charge forth. With confidence, she stood mightily before them. She looked at each and every one of them deeply into their eyes. She spoke, "Ready for this, guys?"

An immediate yes was replied back from everyone. She gave a curt nod of understanding and turned towards their opponents. It was finally time to end this chasing game. But it also meant that the time for them to train beside each other, to fight with the others and to even just have a fun time together with the others were going to end.

She felt a warm trickle on her cheek.

"Elesis.. Are you… Crying..?"

"No I'm not…!" She snapped back before turning towards them, trying so hard to hold back her tears. "... This is going to be the last time we'll be together guys… So no bad memories, alright?"

A battle mage smiled, touched by her companion's deep care for the rest of them. "After this is over, we'll all party out at Kerrie's beach."

"Then let's all swear the Oath of Friendship." An abyss knight spoke up. "That we'll all be together. Now, whilst we are still alive. Later, after we've won the victory we deserve. And even after we're separated by death, we'll see the other in our next lives."

The savior took the first move, firmly placing her hand before her circle of friends like the leader she was. "To Oblivion, shall our bodies crumble into._"_

Next to her, an orange haired vanquisher patted her hand, smiling proudly, being a somewhat born follower. "To the next world, shall our souls float to."

The abyss knight took the next turn, after feeling a second of defeat from failing to get the turn after the knight. "It could be that we will be together once more."

Heterochromatic eyes stared at this. The geas sighed and followed after, wanting to get over this as soon as possible as she dryly commented, "Or we might not even encounter the other again."

The battle mage softly smiled to her leader and hummed gently. It was rare of them to do something as precious as this, despite its childishness. "Though, whatever memories we had made."

After she was done, something surprised them all as they saw a demonic thorny claw taking the top of the pile of hands. The dusk bringer merely grunted when all eyes of disbelief looked at him. "Never shall they, fade away without a single trace."

The arbiter then took his turn with reluctance, seeing as the rest were slightly hesitant to rest their palms on the massive claw. "Because gaze upon the past, shall we all."

Expected by all, the striker overtook the arbiter. He was the only one closest to the demon. Actually, he's the only one who's closest to _a_ demon. "In our dreams of recollection, of remembrance."

A light shove down of the pile of hands was made by a red headed rama. He couldn't wait any longer for a better chance. "And with them, shall we be lead on to each other."

The nova chuckled as she reached out onto the rama's hand. She knew how important this was. "For it is the bond called friendship that we forged."

Seeing the pile of limbs together, the harbinger scoffed. She didn't really want to associate deeply with humans, but another glace over them made her think otherwise. She decided to lightly place her finger on the side of the heap. "That we now swear shall never be left broken."

Groaning as she saw that it was getting cramped, the starlet shoved her own petite hand on the mess. But being so close to her friends, she gleamed happily as they were the only ones who knew the real her. "And as well, forever will we nurture it to blossom."

A usual light laughter from the prime knight as his gloved hand landed softly, nearest to the knight – his great granddaughter. Though he knew he always troubled her, he never fails to show how much he cares for her. "From this present we all reside in, living."

Once he saw he was the only one left, the seeker sighed. He knew not the real reason of this action, but his sword's nagging made him gave in to it all. Another sigh as he tapped his fingers on to the rest of them. "Until time itself has stopped its gentle breathing."

* * *

The red haired teen glanced over her watch. 7.30 am. She sighed as she looked up at the sky. How many times does this make where she had been late to school? She groaned to herself once more to the fact that she should have applied to a school closer to her home. Then again, she sighed, this school was the most closest. The train slowed down and the messy young adult next to her stood up.

His orange bangs flopped about as he got off the train. Though he didn't like the way they covered his eyes, he didn't really liked the barber either. Using his headphones that boomed loud music into his ears, he adjusted them onto his head and pushed back his hair, as if it was a headband. Whistling lightly of the song he was listening to, he passed by a smartly dressed man, a huge contrast to him.

The blue haired man groaned as he boarded the train, seeing it lightly congested by life. It just meant he missed his usual morning train by being late. He groaned once more as an aching headache tortured him. He regretted drinking more than enough beer the night before. Especially on a weekday's night. But it was customary to drink your fill up when you go to your high school reunions. He sighed once more, cursing his fate for trying his luck in a drinking match with an ex-classmate he didn't even knew existed.

She threw the wrench towards her tool box and leaned onto the wall, growling in irk as she felt the thumping pain in her head, her heterochromatic eyes glaring at it deathly. Oh why did she drink gallons of beer last night? Actually, why did she even attend the reunion party in the first place?! She didn't really know half the people there. Because she remembered she only associated with a few people back in high school.

She lightly pushed back the books into their respective shelves. As she picked up a blue colored book, she noticed that it was of a book of mechanics. She smiled as it reminded her of an old friend. But a glance over her lilac wristwatch made her set down the book. It was nearly lunch, and it would be her turn to be on duty at the front desk. Leaving the trolley of books to be sorted out later, she headed towards the front, passing by an oddly dressed man.

He growled in anger after getting kicked out into the street by security. How was he supposed to know that the library didn't allow tearing of books?! Wasn't the place a sanctum of reference or something?! And the way they stared at him was as if he was like those stupid punks with chains and stuff. This was a free country for Hell's sake! He could dress any bloody way he wanted. He sighed reluctantly, bushing back his purple hair. Another irk thing in this world as he stormed away, unaware of a hand trying to reach out to him.

The brunette decided it wasn't a good time to talk with his companion, seeing as he looked more than just pissed off. But how else was he going to kill his time, after getting fired from his job the day before. There was always community service, but he hated doing free labor to anyone. He exhaled gravely, remembering the recent events. Despite being an excellent marksman, he could never have made that shot and eluded endangering his teammates.

He marched through the hallways, towards his leader's room. Once he barged in, he could only see a man resting in his bed and fatally injured. Next to the bed was a woman in grief. He knelled down, silver bangs hanging over his face as he begged for forgiveness of his lack of action in the field. If he were to come earlier, he would have never seen this scene before him. But he felt torn apart, knowing that he also had a good reason to be late as well.

The red head laughed as he waved goodbye to the children at the playground. They seemed much more eager and upbeat than before, especially when he had introduced to them a new 'older brother'. He sighed though. Even if there's a new person helping out at the center, it won't change the fact that the place was getting shut down. And those kids wouldn't have anywhere else to go to. He caught a glance at a poster on a notice board and examined it, unaware of the eccentric looking girl next to him.

She hummed her favorite song as she stapled a brightly colored poster on the notice board. It was about an upcoming event that was taking place just in Kanavan's center. Although it hadn't even started, she was feeling hyped up. She skipped towards another area where she could spread the word of this occasion, letting her Lolita dress and her straightened gold hair flow after her. When she saw a woman staring at her with interest, she approached her.

After receiving a flyer about an anime convection from what she assumed as a 'cosplayer', she merely laughed, throwing back her pink hair. Although she wasn't so fond of the current generation, she found it hilarious that there were still some of them who were doing silly things to amuse themselves. Then again, she had done pretty stupid things herself when she was younger. But the fact that the said some were still trying to preserve their childish nature made her feel a little blissful. She then noticed that a familiar name was going to have her appearance in the event.

She chugged down another bottle of water. Once it was empty, she aimed and threw it towards the bin and wasted no time to practice her singing. She felt pumped up, after getting a text from her childhood friend that she'll be attending her concert. Singing her heart out, she wanted to make sure that she hit every notes right, every pitch right. She wanted it to be near to perfect for everyone to hear her voice so that they could also hear the meaning of the song as well. Despite thinking that, she was ignorant to the man who was lying down in the park's bench just meters behind her.

He understood her passion for singing as he silently listened to her. But couldn't she pick a better place to practice than the local park?! It was his favorite place to rest in and gaze at the stars above in the heart of the city. He sighed reluctantly as he picked himself up to leave the girl alone. In any case, he had wanted to meet someone. Dragging his feet, his black eyes glinted lightly under the moon.

He reached up to close the shop, pulling out a padlock from his pocket as well. As he did so, he had heard a familiar soft chuckle. He didn't turn to greet him, but merely made a grunt to acknowledge his presence. Tying back his grey hair, he looked blankly at the scruffy man. He looked different than how he was many years ago, but he still possessed that infamous grin of his.

"Guess what?"

"I'm guessing that you coming here means it's time, isn't it?"

"Unfortunately, it is... Tme for the kids to wake up."

* * *

The savior groaned. After that near to life-threatening strike, she collapsed onto her knees, desperately grasping on to her swords to keep herself from falling into death. Her companions were still fighting on beside her, now wasn't the time for her to rest. She struggled to stand up on to her feet.

She then heard a soft hum into her ears. Unaware of where it came from, she panicked as she glanced to her left and right. No one was there to whisper in her ears. But she heard it. Looking at her friends, she noticed they were slightly hesitating as well. She assumed they could hear it as well.

_'Savior of Bermessiah, your passionate flame blazing on,  
Gaia's Vanquisher, defend all with your raging storms,  
Abyss Knight, joust a path for us towards victory,  
Beautiful La Geas, with secrets, uphold your beliefs,  
Battle Mage of vast strength, show your might,  
Destruction King Dusk Bringer, make them bow down,  
Arbiter of Justice, pursue they who break your law.'_

_'Striker of unfathomable silence, protect us in the shadows,_  
_Brave Rama, let your courageous spirit blow them away,_  
_Nova of the Forest, with arrows of steel, conquer them,_  
_Harbinger of Doom, terrify they with a gravely death,_  
_Rising Starlet, move their hearts with your graceful voice,_  
_Prime Knight, even in immortality guide them to greatness,_  
_Seeker, advance forth to fulfill your true purpose.'_

It was a song of encouragement that seeped into her ears. Into everyone's ears. She roared with an ambition to win, forcing herself onto her feet and charging forward. The others were equally motivated, getting their individual strengths from within. She swung her swords to land the strike that may end it all, just as the rest with their own. The constant fighting. The never ending war. The continuous chasing.

_'Let courage conquer the fears that tries to cease us,  
Let strength overwhelm the hatred that consumes us,  
Let justice rage upon the lawless that tortures us,  
Let friendship overcome the difficulties that slows us,  
Let hope lead a path through the ordeals that torments us,  
Let light shine upon the darkness that dares to devour us,  
Let love keep together the faith that is shared by us.'_

Yet they failed to listen closely to the last part of the song as she screamed her signature skill.

_'Because once more shall the balance be disrupted,  
As evil shall soon climb back to its former glory,  
Craving more than just the domination of Aernas,  
And by then shall all of us be summoned together,  
Crying out each of our names in its time of need,  
Gathering us together to chase the immoral again,  
For the Rebirth of Chaos will wage war against all.'_

**Prologue – End**

* * *

That's it from me for now =D  
I hoped you all enjoyed a slice of the story, even though to some of you, the prologue's like a repetition of the older version. But meh... -w-"

Edit : I don't like how they called Dio a Twilight. It sounds... Weird... (not to say that I hate the Twilight series... Well, I do but...) I can understand that the job Twilight is the time of when he was in depression (or something similar) followed by his glorious victory... But it kind of breaks the whole Dio's job-is-called-something-that-is-related-to-a-demon kind of thing (stygian, drakar, leviathan) and it just doesn't sound fitting. When I heard that he was also called a Dusk Bringer on other servers, I decided to change every Twilight word into Dusk Bringer. Cause Dusk Bringer sounds like he's the one who's going to end our worlds.  
Yes, I still like the word twilight and it's meaning. No, I do not enjoy the twilight series, reason is too long to explain. Nuff said.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Leader Should Always Be Woken Up First. **

She stared at it, fear gradually swallowing her whole. The intense light flashed before her crimson eyes almost too dangerously. The fire grew and grew, towering over her, engulfing the stronghold that stood before her. Frightened and scared, her whole body was paralyzed.

_'Can you see it, little girl? Can you see it burning?  
Don't be scared dear, it is but a passionate flame,  
Dancing with no end around the mighty fortress,  
Protecting all that is right, flaring out so greatly.'_

The verse kept repeating itself, like a broken record in her ears. But no matter how many times she heard it, no matter how much it kept telling her to suppress her fear, she couldn't do it.

The fire was just too hot.

* * *

She yawned once more as she dragged her feet on. Six of her fingers were up; she had been counting how many times she had been yawning since dawn. It was usually rare of her to feel worn out when it was so early in the morning.

She was Elaine Sieghart the just-an-average high school girl. Well, if you considered the fact that her blood had been from an old line of red haired and red eyed honored knights and her athletic abilities were far from ordinary part of her averageness. Other than that, she didn't stand out more than the normal.

The red head stared up into the sky. A jaded sigh escaped her. Other than wasting her time counting how many times she had sighed, she had also been trying to encrypt the true meaning of the dreams that had been visiting her.

So that makes another odd variation in her averageness – She was having weird dreams. Although she had them, they were always but a blur when she wakes up. The feeling of losing the ability to even reminisce them was like digging up an empty hole inside her. It was psychologically agonizing in many ways.

"Elaine, are you alright?" A light pat on her shoulder and she turned. The first that caught her crimson eyes were dull gold eyes that stared back at her calmly.

"I'm always alright!" She huffed, flicking of the cold hand on her shoulder. She didn't dare to tell the truth to him, to anyone. Elaine had a pride to defend from no matter who it was. Though, she did feel a tiny bit of regret when she was lying to her best friend.

Her best friend (or sometimes referred to as her childhood friend) was the white haired beau, Naoto Hastern; the ever so calm looking cool high school guy that you'd expect to find in those romance comic books who was actually a typical scaredy cat with absolute zero confidence in himself. Literally speaking, his personality destroys his image (it was still a wonder to Elaine that he's popular amongst the other girls and even more to know that he was still single). His older sister, Sibil, was a huge contrast to him – she must have taken all his confidence when she was born. But one odd thing in his appearance was that black long bag he had strapped on his shoulder. She assumed it was his bamboo sword or whatever they called it.

"Oh.. Okay." He whined with a disheartened tone, but immediately the teen lit up. After years of being Elaine's friend, he knew how each gear ticked and how every pendulum swung in the girl's system. She was what they called a Tsundere; a kind of stereotype which described a person had a cold and mean personality on the outside just to cover up the cute and frivolous personality in the inside. "Well, Elaine. Have you changed your mind on joining the kendo club?"

Ever since the two started their high school lives, Naoto had been asking her to join the school's kendo club with him. She expected such a thing to happen (Well, not the part that he who had no confidence in himself was very interested in things as kendo). Especially when she knew he had always one who was close to his inner child and loved all that was fantasy and adventure and what not. Furthermore, he was keen in making her join in the fun all the time (though, Elaine rather not admit to this).

"As much as I'd love to, I have to say no thanks. Being in the basketball club and the football club is enough for me." The red head sighed heavily. With her well known background in the field of athletics in her middle school years, she was suddenly bombarded with invitations to join numerous sports clubs – even before she started going to high school. Intentionally, she wanted to just go with the track and field club but both the manager of the football and basketball club managed to force her into theirs. "If either Feira or Diana found out I was in another club, they'd murder me."

Naoto shivered just from hearing the names of the infamous twins of East Noire High. Rumors states that they were two sisters who annihilated a huge gang of delinquents single handedly, unarmed. And after coming out victorious that same night, they made sure that they ruled over the delinquents with their iron fists.

"Well, forgetting all that. Can you lend me your history notes?" Elaine muttered, immediately changing the topic, knowing that even thinking of those girls scared her as well. Naoto stared at her.

"… You were busy playing games last night, weren't you…"

"They're _that_ addictive!" The girl protested as she snatched the papers off the white haired teen's hand after he took them out. She would never admit (gosh, there are actually a million more things that she will never admit to) to the fact that she had forgotten they had a test that day and she spent the night before playing games.

She did have a good reason though.

Elaine spent that whole night trying to shift all her attention from her dreams to something more productive (and gaming seemed much better than daydreaming). Actually, other than trying to see the meaning in the dreams that visited her, she had been trying everything to get rid of those dreams that kept bothering her nearly every night. Ironic isn't it?

The girl sighed once more after concluding games might not be a splendid idea than she thought it to be. She let her eyes explore the neat handwriting of her best friend, not noticing how Naoto looked at her worriedly.

As well as not noticing a pair of slate gray eyes trailing after them. These gray eyes were smiling with glee. Below them was a childish grin that was full of satisfaction. "I finally found you, my descendant~"

* * *

"Freedom~!" Elaine squealed as she jumped out of the classroom, stretching her arms out. After spilling out all the information she managed to cramp into her head in one amazingly difficult history test, she was relieved from all that stressed her.

"Elaine, that was but one test. Not an exam."

"Don't destroy her moment." Naoto lightly pushed away a classmate, letting the red head enjoy the taste of liberty from the academic battle today, as well as the end of the war that was the school day. He then herded the girl towards the other end of the hallway. She was gleaming brightly with her smile, radiating an easing warmth. He smiled. Today, he decided, was a good day to do it. "Elaine. You've got your football now, right?"

"Yeap. See you after school~!" She chirped, still in her good mood, forgetting the fact the manager was one of Hell's scariest spawn.

He chuckled at the way she ran off, deciding that after school he'd do it. He'd tell her. But his smiling expression soon faded into seriousness as he caught a glint of grim right at the corner of his eye. Naoto gave one stare at his side, at the school gates. There stood a lone black haired man, hair tied back neatly, smirking back at him. Yellow eyes just glowed at him with deception and demise.

"… Today _was_ a good day…" He growled to himself, heading towards his locker, unaware of the other students backing away from him because of his deathly glare and menacing snarls.

From the outside of the school, the older man snickered. His fingers twitched with one desire. If he was able to anger that kid with one smile, what would happen if he..

"Let's see what you'd do if I touched that wee lass…."

* * *

The nonsensical chatter amongst her female comrades wisped into one ear and out the other. Frankly, Elaine didn't really care much about them as she poked out all of her buttons and took off her white shirt, leaving her with nothing to cover her top but her undergarment.

"Aww… There's still nothing there, Miss Flat-Boarded." An irksome giggle on her left. The red head merely growled back without having to glance who it was. She knew that the only girl who had a problem with her in the club was that good-for-nothing Wynona.

The rest of the girls in the club had nothing against the red head, but it was only her who loved to pick on her. Sometimes she thought it was just because she was personally recruited by Diana that Wynona hated her. Though the rest of the time, she knew the blue haired just hated her guts. Elaine snorted. "Well, I may be flat. But you'll still be the shortie who looks like an old stripper."

"What did yo-"

"That's enough chit chat!" The gray haired Diana had clapped her hands sternly, commanding the whole lot to move out quickly. As Wynona snarled and slinked away in her gear, she left Elaine to peacefully change. But it took the red head a while to notice that she was the only one who had to slip into her gear.

As she hastily put on her shorts, she heard a hum. She had thought she was the only one left in the locker room. _"It's the Savior of Bermessiah, charging forward~"_

"Who's there?!" Elaine snapped as she twisted herself, easily recognizing that the voice was not any of the usual girly tones she'd hear in the room. Realizing that it was deep and husky; it was but a man's. She saw none but a lazing black haired messy man, whistling the rest of the song. Elaine was outraged as a man had entered a girl's sanctum in the school. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"

"Huuuuh….?" A sleepy reply seeped out of his lips. He blinked lightly to her, revealing his silver eyes that saw through her. But the next thing he knew, he switched gears into his alert mode and jumped away from the bench, avoiding a heel kick from the teen. "Woah there, Red! It's me!"

Elaine took a good look at the sheepishly grinning man. He had that distinctive look that made her feel nostalgic. Even the way he called out that nickname that he had selfishly made for her was misty. But there was no mistake that he was but a guy who had invaded her privacy.

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?! Answer or I'll kick the daylights out of you!"

"Harsh much? And after how much time I spent trying to find you." He whined after getting snapped at, rubbing his ears lightly. "Well, you were never the type to listen to other's explanations… Then again.. I don't like explaining things so…" He skipped lightly to Elaine with a speed she couldn't follow. As they were an inch apart, he smiled childishly. Elaine merely snorted in disgust to the smell he currently possessed. "I'm just going to help you wake up~!"

Though as gentle as his pat on her forehead seemed it felt like an explosive impact had just hit her brains out. As much as she wanted to scream in pain, nothing came out of Elaine's throat. Because there was a sentimental feel to it all that numbed everything. She staggered back, collapsing onto her knees. Her red eyes were still looking at the nostalgic grey.

"Sorry. Currently I can't do more than to bless you with that song of hope, Elesis, but I have high hopes you'll do fine with it." The man gave a dry chuckle as he walked towards the window. He climbed out and jumped away. At that instant, the girl picked herself up and went after him.

But when she stuck her head out of the window, it was lacking of any souls. She sighed. What had just happened? Questions zipped around her mind. Who was he? Why was he so familiar? What the heck did he just do? Why did he just call her Elesis? Who was Elesis?

"Elaine!" She jolted at the call of her name by the manager. She didn't want to risk being called another time as she hastily buttoned up her shirt and ran out, shoving all her worries to the back of her mind to be revisited. But there was still one thing that troubled her the most.

Why were there regrets in his eyes when he did that…?

* * *

As Elaine's eyes blinked open slowly, a feel of nostalgia washed over her. She tilted her head and saw the grassy floor she lied on. Beyond was a large calming flowery field with an amazingly comforting blue sky. To her, it was a beautiful scene in contrast to the high raised buildings that surrounded her in the town she lived in.

Her fingers softly moved and she felt leather. Gradually she rose up, discovering her gear was already put on her. Her steel gauntlets were on – they were black plates with red and gold rims. And so were her steel armor. She pushed herself to sit up.

On her lap, a pair of swords lay there. Both waiting eagerly to be wielded by their master. They were awfully agonizing to see; they were weapons for war. Yet at the same time, she couldn't help but smile. Because these swords also possessed a powerful sentimental memory she felt she could never let go of.

The red head flinched when she saw specks of ashes being played with the wind. A sharp inhale told her it was definitely smoke. Once again, fear was creeping on to her as she hesitated to turn to the other side.

It was all too vivid. There, stood the stoned fort that loomed over her. And so were the flames that blazed around them, haunting her dreams again and again. They were fiery, yet they put her frozen on the spot, unable to do anything but to cower in its might.

_'It is the Savior of Bermessiah, charging forward,  
In her hands, she wields the both the sword of just,  
and the sword of compassion, her weapons of war,  
With her flaming spirit, she burns down her enemies,  
mercilessly into crisp, leaving tiny embers fluttering,  
for the sake of her beliefs, her friends, she blazes on.'_

She blinked to the new verse that slipped into her ears. They were calming and soothing, almost too beautiful for her to listen to. That empty hole that she had been desperately trying to figure out practically seemed to have been filled with nothing but that song. She even forgot the flames that burned before her.

_'Elaine… Set me free...'_

Elaine flinched when she heard her name being called out so sorrowful, desperately getting her attention. It was weak and soft, but she felt a prideful strength that had lightly been entwined in the voice.

_'Elaine… Call my name…!'_

Her lips seemed to have opened by themselves, her mind retracing to where she had heard this voice from, so she can reply to her call for relief.

_'Elaine…'_

* * *

"ELAINE!"

Elaine jolted into a sitting position as her name was screamed out, breathing rapidly. Immediately, she saw the source of the exasperated voice. Naoto had the most worried and pale expression. And to add more, he breathing heavily, sweating all over in his kendo gear. There was even a slight revelation of his pure chest.

"… Y-yeah?" The red head questioned shakily as she tried to calm herself, blushing away from the sight of his skin. The male teen took a few seconds to see that she was alright and sighed in relief, staggering towards her.

"Dear Starklin, I was so worried when I heard that you had fainted. I'm so glad you're alright.." Unintentionally, he hugged her. Elaine could feel his hand trembling dangerously, his fingers grasping on her tightly in desperation. His heartbeat was thundering loudly as well, having a hasty beat she couldn't follow.

Although, she herself had no idea what had happened, she just patted him back reassuringly. "Hey. I'm always strong enough to be alright."

"But she isn't as hard headed as everyone thinks." Another voice got the girl shoved away from his embrace. Naoto had retreated and avoided all eye contact. But his red ears had told Elaine that he had become terribly flushed. She didn't mind it. She herself was flustered as well, by the sudden intimacy. She then noticed the white blanket over her, and soon her nose started to detect the smell of medicine.

"I'm in the nurse's room?" Elaine looked up to see at the end of the bed, was Diana biting on a lollipop by her incisors.

"Where else? You got knocked out after Wynona kicked the ball too hard towards your head." The manager then proceeded to crush down the lollipop with her teeth into smithereens. "Honestly, if she's going to take out my ace, I'll make her suffer far deadlier consequences than removing her from my football team…"

As the other two stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and fear, Diana walked towards the door. Before she left, her head turned to Elaine, then Naoto then Elaine again. Her eyes were covered by her long messy fringe so they couldn't make out whether she was really looking at them seriously or giving them a bored look. "I'll make sure my sister knows you won't be coming to basketball practice tomorrow after getting a headshot like that..." The girl then flicked her hand lightly at the two. "And whatever relationship you two have.. Please keep it to yourselves.. It's too… Cute…"

Before the either of the two could protest back, the manager had shut the door. Red and gold eyes blinked blankly at the entry of the infirmary. They had never imagined that the hellish woman even had any intention of being kind, let alone have a girlish side.

Immediately, Elaine jumped what she had just said about them; about this 'relationship' she had with Naoto. She turned red in a heartbeat at just at the thought of the word. Who knows what she'll turn into if she even gives thought to such a thing happening between her and him. Then again…

Elaine hesitated as she took a glance at the male teen. He was flustered - even his ears were red - with a hand scratching his nape lightly. Slightly looking back at her, he smiled sheepishly.

"Um… Elaine..?"

"Y-yeah..?" She stuttered back, suffocating in the silence that surrounded them but the extreme thumping of their heartbeats. Elaine was certain she couldn't just hear her own. She heard someone else's; she heard Naoto's. Could it be…? But they had always been best friends for years. And he didn't seem to show any hints of interest towards her in any sort of way. Unless they were just too hard to discover or she was too dense.

Naoto stuttered. "Please… Can you tell me everything…"

"… Huh?" the red head stared at him dumbfounded.

"Well… Lately, I see you always having something in mind, and always so sleepy. I know you told me you're alright, but I also know you're just saying that to not make me worry." The gold eyes of the white haired teen kept staring into her red eyes, unwavering for anything else. "And from the way you were struggling and shivering when you were sleeping just now, I can't just let this go anymore."

Struggling? Shivering? Now that was a first for Elaine to hear. Was it that dream again? The dream she couldn't remember every time she woke up? No…

This time, she could recall each second she was in the dream world. From the moment she laid eyes on the grassy field to the burning flames. Until the moment she heard her name desperately called out by another.

"I… I'm not so sure what's going on myself Naoto…" Elaine sighed gravely, ignorant to how she was going to tell this tale to her friend. How could she explain everything that she had just experienced in the dream world so easily? And to only recall everything that happened now? Was it the work of that weirdo that appeared in the locker room? When his picture appeared in her mind, she thought of how much he looked so familiar.

"Then tell me in a way you see fit, Elaine. Because no matter what, I want to help you." Steadily, cold fingertips brushed onto her hands. Naoto's hands grasped for hers, gaining her undivided attention. "You're always there for me, and now it's my turn. I'm your best friend, Elaine."

"Ah… Young love~ So innocent and so pure~" A sentimental hum coming from behind them bewildered the two as they immediately broke apart, turning to see who dared to intrude into their private together time. It was but a black haired sleek man, gleaming brightly to the two people from the windowpane. Instantly, Naoto stepped forth; one hand protecting Elaine, the other reaching out for his bamboo sword that had been leaning on to the wall all this time.

"What do you want?!" The white haired teen barked, followed with a threatening growl, as he took his combat stance with his sword. His aggressive side was one that had astonished the girl. Elaine had never even seen him remotely irritated, let alone get angry. And now he was just furious at the sight of this man.

"Oh come on. We both know we want the girl…" He chuckled in his deep voice. "It's just that…" His hand gradually pulled out a sledgehammer from thin air as he climbed in the room. "Unlike you, I intend to let her sleep longer, if you know what I mean."

"Elaine... Get out of here." A dark low mutter from Naoto startled her. His voice was hazardously threatening, yet the girl merely jumped out of the bed and grabbed a stool, knowing all the dangers she was facing here with her friend.

"And leave you behind with a stick? Naoto, you know me well enough that I don't abandon my friends." Elaine made a dry laugh as she held the stool tightly, ready to swing it violently. She felt that she was insane to be going against a guy who was actually wielding a huge war hammer in this day and age, with a stool. Yes, a tiny metal and plastic stool. But on the other hand, Naoto had a bamboo sword against that guy and he's not really the crazy type, especially when he didn't seem as amused as her.

"… Fine…" He grunted as shifted forward, eyeing on his opponent closely, blocking out everything else. "And for the record Elaine, it's a shinai. Not a stick." As his eyes locked on to his enemy, Elaine could feel the aura around him transform into something refined and professional - as if he were to become a real samurai.

Breathing in, Naoto kept his composure, searching for all possibilities to strike the older man before him. There were only four types of cut in kendo; all of which stuck the opponents' vital points; the head, the wrists, the stomach and the neck. Using that information as his basic strategy, he scanned the older man for anything that would help the white haired teen.

It didn't take him long to notice that there were leather gauntlets, translucent under his long sleeved white shirt. Naoto crossed out the possibility of using the wrist cut, followed with the erasing of the neck cut. There was no way he would pull of such a dangerous and difficult move. The kendo practitioner decided to just try to strike the other with a cut at the head, but kept in mind to strike the stomach in case the first didn't seem possible.

Just the sight of muscles tensing, Naoto slid forward automatically and swung his sword. The instant he saw the older man lifting his arms, he knew the best form of assault was the cut at the stomach. "DO!*"

"Gwaaargh!"

"Elaine! Let's go!" The stool banged on the ground as Elaine's arm was dragged away so suddenly by her comrade. Naoto pulled the girl forcefully with him as they dashed towards the door and out. Without a single turn back, they kept ran.

* * *

"Naoto…!"

Finally, Elaine wheezed out after struggling to get her breath. The white haired teen grunted, slowing his pace as he scanned the atmosphere. Because the only thoughts that had been occupying his mind were to get the red haired girl away from that man, he had failed to keep track to where he had taken her. But he thanked the fact his legs had brought him to the school's dojo – it was his territory now. Realizing he had been holding on to the red head the whole time, he jumped back feeling flustered. "S... Sorry Elaine…"

On the other hand, Elaine merely stared on to her own wrists, fazed and perplexed. They were red and slightly bruised; she couldn't believe Naoto had such strength in him. She knew Naoto had only joined kendo since high school started, which was just two months ago, but to see that he actually had that much power in him was too hard to believe. And to even recall the speed of his movement when he slashed the hammer wielder was simply impossible – it was all too sudden.

He used to be the weak, shy guy. Now, he was just...

Naoto was grabbing his armor and fixing it on himself as fast as he could, preparing for battle. By his side was not the bamb- the shinai he had been wielding just moments ago, but a sheathed katana. Standing firmly without fear, he was like a different person all together.

And then there was that black haired man with the war hammer. What did he want with the both of them? Or to be specific, what did Naoto and he talked about…? Her sleeping longer? Just like the other guy – the messy old one that smelled bad – he said something like he was waking her up… No wait…

"Tell me, Naoto… All this talk about waking me up… Does it have to do with this person named Elesis?"

Naoto blinked at her. He then sighed as he pressed the bridge of his nose. "I tried so hard to prevent this to happen to you… But I guess the inevitable can't be denied…" His gold eyes stared deeply to the red eyes of the girl. "Elaine… You're the reincarnation of Elesis Sieghart of the Ruby Knights. And I've been protecting you whist Elesis was still 'sleeping' until the day comes that she is needed in this world once more."

"Okay, I believe you."

"I know it's hard to believe but- Wait, you believe me?" Naoto blinked, dumbfounded.

"It's hard not to after all the nonsense I'm going through right now." She nudged the white haired teen gently. "Look, I don't know the details, but I can tell the guy with the war hammer is the evil one and what I do know is that the only way now is to wake this 'Elesis' up, right?"

"… It's not that easy, Elaine…" Naoto's face was grim. "It all occurs in the dream world. You have to find a way to open the door that connects you to their soul first before you can call out the soul of your past self. She will then be able to be awaken from her slumber, but only if you were to allow it and to accept this destiny." He groaned uncomfortably as he said the latter, now lightly holding onto the girl's shoulders. "Elaine… If you do this, your destiny will change drastically. You won't be able to live a normal life. You'll have to give it up for the sake of the world…"

It didn't take more than a second for her to decide her fate. A kind of spark ignited in her eyes. "I'll do it."

Naoto groaned in reluctance once more, but he couldn't help but comply with the girl's conclusion. "I bid you good luck then…" He laid the palm of his hand onto Elaine's forehead. "And…"

"And wha-"A light soothing ring jolted the girl as she slowly fell into deep slumber before she could question what he muttered to her. The kendo practitioner exhaled as he laid her on the ground gently, a sorrow grin on his face. His expression immediately became that of an angry predator as he turned to what was behind him; His war hammer wielding enemy.

"You know, I wonder." The man smirked as he stepped closer. Gradually his whole body became bulkier, muscular and green. Naoto twitched in disgust to his enemy's transformation, his right hand fidgeting to withdraw his steel katana. Standing before him, was the Orc Lord's true form. "You choose to remain in that weak human's body. And to add more, you waste it on aiding that brat. If you with us, you could be free from everything's that bounded you down."

"Well, why don't you wonder more? I mean, I myself still wonder why you are still working for that bloody woman. Even when you know that she had already used you as mere, disposable pawns." Naoto smirked as he saw a vein snap in the humongous orc's head. As the giant orc rushed forth with his war hammer, the kendo practitioner lunged and unsheathed his katana to counter his assault.

Inside, he prayed that Elaine would be fine. Inside, he hoped Elaine would quickly wake up Elesis.

* * *

The ancient stronghold was overwhelmed by the burning fire that circled around it protectively. It towered over her with its massive walls that stood firmly. This time, Elaine did neither falter from it nor did she fear it. She stood before it confidently.

"Elesis! That's your name, right?! Come out!"

There was no response. The red haired teen heard nothing but the crackles of fire burning away. She tried to call out once more.

"Elesis Sieghart of the Red Knights!"

She flinched as she saw the way the flames danced started to rage violently without leniency towards any being. Elaine hesitated, but she held her ground. She remembered the song that had been sung soothingly into her ears. They told her not to fear it, that it was but a flame of passion.

As the flames took form of a human, she knew who it was. But she was just baffled.

'The Savior of Bermessiah... Looks exactly like me!' Elaine gawked at the woman who strode towards her from the flames, unharmed from the heat that surrounded her.

"I thank you for calling me to this world." She bowed curtly, radiating a prideful aura. "As you have said, I am Elesis Sieghart of the Ruby Knights." Elesis then grabbed hold of the other's shoulder firmly. "And I can tell you are in need of my aid right now. As we speak, that Naoto person must be protecting your body from that man."

"How do you-"

"I was already released from my neutral state the moment the old man had tapped us. And since then, I've been waiting for you to call my name, to release me so I may rise from my long slumber. I know the situation well enough to know what we both need to do." Seeing the young red head in confusion, Elesis groans. "Just let me take over."

"Hmm…?" Elaine was surprised to how sudden the knight suddenly burst into embers that fluttered around her. As they lightly landed on her, she felt warmth like no other and without hesitation, she welcomed it.

* * *

Her eyes blinked with a fiery passion. She stood immediately, seeing that she was in a world unfamiliar to her. But the sound of sword clashing with hammer immediately caught her attention. Hastily, she picked herself up and ran towards the direction of combat, but only stopped when she saw a pair of katana leaning in wait for her on the wall. Though her preference was a slightly heavier pair of swords, she still made a silent thanks to the white haired kid and grabbed in anyways.

Just outside of the wooden structure, she stared at the serious fight between two forces. No, she thought as she lunged forth. Using the steel swords, she blocked the heavy blow of the war hammer and forcing them back.

"A one-sided battle... How low can you get, Orc Lord?!" She spat as she went back into her fighting stance. But she didn't fail to take a peek behind her. The snowy teen was staggering, beaten up, injured and exhausted. Despite that, he still stood his ground, unwilling to be pushed around any further.

"Elai… No… It's Miss Elesis, right…?" He choked out the words, accompanied with blood. The red headed girl gave a mere nod.

"Get some rest. I'll take over." She commanded back, still glowering at her opponent. Only the weak sounds of footsteps going away from the field of battle calmed a portion of her nerves.

"Elesis Sieghart," purred the Orc Lord, "it's been centuries since we've last met, haven't we?"

"Yes, I could remember the day we last met. Our lot was beating the crap out of yours, right?" Elesis replied dryly, uninterested in rejoicing the moment of their reunion together. Leaving the large orc taunted, the knight in high school clothes circled around to pin point any openings made by him.

She was definitely glad the body she possessed now was physically fit (though still far from her standards) as she skidded and rammed both swords onto the bulky figure, forcing the orc to flinch in the sudden strike. Without any intention to cease there, she continued to land a chain of hits, digging the wound deeper.

"Raaaah!" The Orc Lord swung around his hammer brashly, swatting the girl away from him. She slammed straight to the dojo's wall, cursing the fact that no matter how fit this body she had was, it was still fragile from heavy blows. It wasn't a good trait to have considering she was a knight - a heavy tanker who kept the front lines from receding.

But her natural instincts in battle still seemed to be in top notch as she hastily rolled away from the sudden strike of the iron hammer. Picking herself back up, she could almost hear the Orc Lord in muse to her current state. A switch flipped inside of her.

"You know, Orc Lord. This is the second time we meet and you still haven't noticed something…" She growled darkly as a flame ignited inside her. Tightening her grip on the swords as if they were her precious signature weapons, the Ssangeom, Elesis bellowed, "No one underestimates me! Elesis Sieghart! The leader of the Ruby Knights! The Savior of the Grand Chase!"

Leaping up, she swung the blade first, crushing his head, following by another blow on his shoulder. Entering a state of senselessness, Elesis began slashing and hacking the monster violently and barbarically, her fire growing madly inside her.

"Chaos Savior!"

* * *

Gold eye could see it. See the striking, passionate flames eating up the enemy mercilessly and flaring out to show its mighty power. How long had it been since he last saw those flames? That burning spirit that only heroes of old seem to possess in themselves. His eyes felt heavy as it gently shut, his energy seeping away to aid his constricted chest.

Yet he forced himself to stay awake; the drive to watch the girl beautifully dance with her fiery soul, skillfully playing around with such dangerous yet gracious swords of war.

But the exhaustion seemed to pull him persuasively into the depths of the darkness of slumber, his mind could not stay long with the pounding throes in his upper body. Gradually, his vision of the beauty before him blurred away into nothingness.

"Hey? Hey, are you alright?" Her voice was stern, yet entwined with concern.

"… I just need some sleep… Miss Elesis…"

"Ditch the 'Miss' please. I'm just a knight."

He chuckled lightly. She was still the same from before. He couldn't help but smile peacefully.

"You… Who are you…?"

He mouthed his name, but he swore he heard nothing that resembled his voice. Gradually, he began to realize he felt nothing of himself as well.

"What did you say?" Slight rustlings and heavy clangs found themselves slinking into his ears, though they steadily blurred. "H-hey! Are y..u sur..e you're alri..ght?!"

"Oh… ap! You're re… jured! … is hor... ble! D-don't wo…! I'll ge… to som…. re safe! H…ld on!"

Then there was just nothing.

* * *

The beeping sounds rhythmically filled the white room of the sleeping snowy haired beau. Next to him, an older similarly snowy haired girl stared at him; her face obviously showing her overflowing emotions. Abreast to her, a red haired teen held on to her hand tightly, sharing the same wounded feelings.

"How... Did my brother end up like this Elaine…?" The older girl's eyes was naught of life, staring at her brother, hoping that he wound just wake up and take off all those bandages and tubes around him and tell them that all this was but a dream.

"… He was protecting me…" Elaine muttered before she turned the girl towards her, looking straight into her soft blue eyes. "Sibil, I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me, none of this would happen and-"

"Stop, Elaine…" She gently brushed away the younger girl and went back to look at her pale older brother, sleeping without worries. "If this happened because he protected you, then don't blame yourself." Sibil stuttered, desperately holding back more of her tears. "I know Naoto enough to understand why he would die for you… I'm just.. Shocked that it's happening so soon…"

Elaine kept staring at her. "What do you mean.. He'd die for me…?"

"Elaine… He likes you… Naoto really likes you…"

* * *

Elaine walked home alone under the sunset, gazing blankly at her stretching shadow. She could only think of the last words that Naoto spoke to her, before she fell asleep to bring back the ancient hero that resided in her body. Though she didn't hear them, the more she replayed the moment in her mind, the more she could tell what words came out of his mouth.

_'I love you…'_

He loved her and he was dying for her. It crushed her inside.

'I apologize for your loss…' A voice inside of her spoke. The voice that belonged to a soul trapped inside of her. The soul of this so called Savior, Elesis Sieghart. 'If only I noticed the deep blow in his ribs, none of this would have happened.'

'Well, it did happen.' Elaine snapped back in frustration. But immediately she breathed in deeply to calm herself. 'Sorry… I..'

'I understand. It's unfair for you, someone unrelated to all this mess, to suffer like this...'

'Nothing else can be done now to change that.' Elaine sighed. Then her expression turned into that of a determined warrior as her grip on the black strapped bag tightened, on Naoto's sheathed swords. '… But it doesn't mean there's nothing else we can do now, right? Miss Elesis Sieghart?'

'Just Elesis would be alright.'

'Elesis… Tell me everything you know. Tell me about why this is happening. And who you really are.'

'About whom _we_ really are.' The older soul corrected with a gentle chuckle. 'We are the Grand Chase.'

**Chapter 1 - End**

* * *

Well, there's chapter one =D

So we start off with a girl named Elaine, who is the current container of Elesis Sieghart =D

The reincarnations of the Grand Chase will have the same appearance - though some of them may seem older or younger, depending on their status are in the modern world.  
Though they don't have the same names because of 1-It'll be way too easy for them to realize that they part of the Grand Chase, 2-What are the chances of a parent naming their child after a person in a fairy tale or something? [Note that in this modern Aernas, GC is a fairy tale].  
The reincarnation and the former chaser will share a body, communicating with the other via thoughts.

Naoto happens to be an OC I've grown attached to -w-" So I still kept him in this rewritten version.

Which reminds me to say that all relationships, pairings, whatever will play a part in the plot, ie. I'm not pairing them up out of pure fun or shit like that. Even I know I'm tempted to write out some ZeroxSieggie action somewhere (actually, I rather write it everywhere hahahaha *shot*), but this kind of fic deserves something like professionalism... and shit like that... So yeah... No random pairings and shit... (screw me... why did I decide on this shit?!)

*Oh for anyone's info, Kendo is the way of the sword, a japanese martial art. It's quite similar to Lass' striker moves except Lass practices the Art of Unsheathing the sword, which is a much advanced form of fighting in Kendo. For training, they use either a shinai (bamboo blade - you can just unequip Elesis' sword to see her holding it in game) or a bokken (wooden sword).

They shout the type of cut they're going to use against their opponent as a means to respect their opponent and give them a chance to defend himself (so from above, Naoto had said 'Do' which meant he was going to strike the stomach - though the guy knows nothing about kendo so it's his fault he got hurt). Samurais are like this - they are honorable men who fights straightforwardly and don't trick enemies like ninjas. That's why most samurais do not like the way of the ninjas where illusions and deception is usually used.

Ironically, Lass utilizes both ninja and samurai styles of fighting... -w-" Oh Lass.

Hehehe~ learning something new is definitely fun~!... Meh, I just want to spread the love of Kendo to the world with that =D

Guess that's all from me for now...


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 : Coincidentally, Your Friends are Always Close By**

He couldn't help but gape blankly at them. The will-o-wisps danced around him, all too fast for his eyes to follow, and even faster for him to make out what they were trying to tell him. Always dancing in the same pattern, in the same unfathomable forms. His curiosity glared at them, starving for their reason underneath their magnificence.

_'Beautiful aren't they? Truly magnificent spirits,  
Bring them back to the world, back to their duties,  
Reach out to them, claim the strength to protect,  
And find your true self, Elf of Nature's Guardians.'_

The words were whispered in to his ears ever so softly, it almost excited him more than he imagined. Oh how he just wanted to let his hand rise up and gently caress the fluttering lights, wanting to know how it could just tempt him in its innocence.

But the moment the tip of his finger touched the will-o-wisp, he screamed.

* * *

"The Grand Chase was a band of warriors, gathered by the Queen of Serdin, to battle against the evil that tried to reign over Aernas. We were heroes, despite what lineage we came from or what background we had, protecting what was important to all of us…. FASTER!"

"Yes, sir!" Elaine shouted confidently back as she continuously jabbed the wooden sword in her hand through the air. She had lost count to how many times she had done so, let alone figure out what this was for. All she knew was that the moment she fell asleep again, Elesis was there next to her in her dream world and commanding her to grab a sword and start training. "But may I know what this is for?"

"Your body seems to remember my techniques that I had utilized before like instincts after my fight with the Orc Lord. But your mind won't be able to read it so easily. I'm just helping you recollect it all." Elesis crossed her arms with a smirk, watching her new self gradually gaining back her motivation and hastening her pace. "Loosen up your upper arms. Work on your hips' movement."

"Got it!" Once the red haired teen nodded, she began correcting herself slowly. The girl failed to ask her why this was to be done though. She was beginning to enjoy cutting through the air to ask that, and the thought of doing it in real life was exhilarating. "So Elesis. When you mean by band of warriors, how many are there?"

"Fourteen, myself included." A soft chuckle was made by the senior warrior. "You could say we were like a bizarre group of different and eccentric people who could barely stand each other, yet stick together like family."

"That means there are thirteen other people like me then…" Elaine stopped. She then turned to the older girl, straight into her ruby eyes. "I'll find your friends. Then we can end this all."

Touched by the decision and mused by the determination of the young girl, Elesis merely laughed. "Like I'd allow that. After how much I'm seeing, I'll have to shape you up a lot more that you can imagine! Now do some squats!"

* * *

"Did you hear about Naoto?"

"Yeah. Delinquents had tried to fight with him on his way home."

"I heard he returned ten folds though but they played dirty with knives."

"I want to visit him and nurse him!"

"You can't! No one knows where he's hospitalized…"

Elaine sighed to the never-ending gossip girls just next to her table. Where on Aernas did they get all these information from? She will never know. But surely eavesdropping on them was better than to look into her book of gibberish which everyone else calls a _'History Book'_. She didn't really hate the subject. It was just that, the subject seems to find it easy to bore her to death. And don't get her started with her history teacher. An old man who just goes on and on and on without realizing he had gone off topic. It wasn't even a wonder that he didn't realize that she had been skipping his classes.

She doesn't even know why she was sitting there, waiting for the class to start. Maybe because the rumors about Naoto was so interesting to her. About the guy who loved her enough to even die protecting her.

"Elaine? You alright? You're really red?"

"H-huh?! Of course I am!" Elaine dryly laughed as she convinced a classmate she was doing fine. There was no way she could say that to anyone. Not when there's a bunch of his fan girls just sitting there with a high possibility to kill her if they knew.

'… Naoto…' Elesis had whispered to the flushed girl. '… Who exactly is he…?'

'What do you mean, Elesis?'

'He's no ordinary person, for sure. He knew a lot about the procedures and he knew I was in your body…' A solemn sigh seeped out of the spirit. 'Damn… He might even know where the others are… If only I heard him tell me who he really was properly…'

Elaine didn't even think another second to agree. The boy had more secrets than she knew. He even mentioned about not letting this happen. Now what was that about? Was he trying to prevent all this to happen? Or could it be that he didn't want Elesis to wake up at all? Then again, he had submitted to her wishes to wake up the savior. "Urgh…. All this is messing up my head…" The teen stood and headed out of the class as the bell rang, deciding that fresh air might do her better than listening to her teacher lecture on and on.

"And where do you think you're going?" An unfamiliar voice halted her. Elaine looked up to see a young man, presumably still in his early twenties, and holding a history book. She was more surprised to see how handsome he was; Navy eyes and hair, perfectly fit body. Could he just be anymore… "Well?"

"W-woah..!" She retreated inwards into the classroom with surprise. Giggles from the girls were heard as they began dispersing from their gossip groups and back to their respective seats.

"I'm guessing you're Miss Elaine Sieghart?"

"Who the heck are you?! What happened to that old guy?!"

"Well, Miss Sieghart. You've been skipping history classes enough to not realize that he had decided to have an early retirement and have me replace him since last week." Though he had a frown, Elaine couldn't help but look at how he looked so… Dazzling. She quickly scampered back to her seat, already in embarrassment and unwilling to go through more humiliation.

As the class went, Elaine took an opportunity to whisper to the classmate next to her. "Who the heck is this guy?"

"Rolan Erudon. He's our temporary history teacher until they get a new history teacher. But honestly, I don't mind if there isn't a new teacher."

'Hahahaha! I don't mind it either.' Elesis laughed heartily and uncontrollably. 'I can't believe it! Him! A teacher! And history! Hahahaha! It so fits that noob!'

'Noob? Elesis, what are you talking about?'

'This guy… Rolan, right? He's another of the Grand Chase. He's Ronan Erudon, the Abyss Knight.'

* * *

Elesis couldn't stop laughing inside the whole day. She kept saying how 'Ronan' it was for his present self was a teacher, teaching history. And of course, Elaine didn't get it. But she hadn't heard the knight laugh so much, so truly, since she woke. The chuckles she made before were sometimes dry and fake to her. So she let Elesis laugh on.

'Seems like he runs a club so we can't see him today…' The teen sighed as she shut the History Department's staff room. She had thought she'd approach him that day about the Grand Chase. The quicker she did this, the quicker it all ends, the lesser people she'd see getting hurt. A chill shivered her the moment she recalled how depressed Sibil was in that hospital room, holding onto her brother's hand in desperation.

"So sir, when are we investigating it?" A soft voice echoed from the other end of the hallway. Elaine blinked in bewilderment, seeing Sibil shuffling next to the teacher she had been seeking for, carrying a box of who knows what.

"Just after I drop this in the club room. We can gather all our members there and head out for a bit, Sibil." Rolan was laughing childishly to the student, unaware of their red headed watcher. "It'll cheer you up as well."

A light blush formed on Sibil as she smiled sheepishly to him. "I appreciate that, sir."

Elaine stared at them, walking away in to the distance, chatting away in their own world. She was happy, that Sibil seemed fine (And actually surprised that Sibil was part of the club Rolan was, whatever it was). But inside her, something was burning.

It was a fire she had never felt before. It wasn't as warm and passionate as the one she wielded. It was too fierce and hazardous, rampaging around inside of her in distortion.

'E-Elesis…?' Lightly, Elaine questioned, assuming all that ignites in her had to do with the knight.

'… Let's go, Elaine…'

'But Elesis. Mr. Erudon's there so we could-'

'Not… Now…' The high school girl twitched. She had never heard Elesis growl in pure anger. Elaine merely complied and hurried away, in confusion to what had just happened.

* * *

_"I walk the lonely road, on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams…"_

'Stop, Elaine.' The girl halted immediately, half shaken and half relieved. The savior inside her had been miserably quiet and the silence she made was suffocating her terribly. She didn't even dare to think why she was so angry so suddenly. It was just Mr. Erudon and Sibil together for a club activity. But that was to be kept at the back of her mind as she responded to the spirit with a grunt. 'Elaine, you hear that? Someone's singing softly.'

_"Where the city sleeps, and I'm the only one, I walk alone."_

'I know this song. Boulevard of Broken Dreams. I haven't heard it in a while.' Elaine looked around but of course, she couldn't pinpoint who it was. She was at the subway station, in the midst of bustling, noisy people, chatting amongst themselves or on their cellphones. But there was another group of people that would be in their own worlds, reading a book silently, gazing into space, or just- 'That guy, he's listening to music with those headphones. He's the one who's humming.'

'Headphones? That funny looking headband with the ear muffs?' The knight questioned, reminding her that the spirit inside of her was but a person from an old era, still alien to the tech savvy world she lived in (but the fact she could see some familiar technologies was a little astonishing, such as trains and cars – she reminded herself to ask the savior later on about her knowledge). Nevertheless, they both were looking at the same person. The same, orange messy haired, young well-built man with black headphones, nodding his head to the song he listened to as he sang lightly. 'Never mind that. That's him. Chase after him!'

'W-what?!'

'I can recognize his voice anywhere after listening to him spout endless crap about nature to the point it's infuriating. It's Ryan. The Grand Chase's Vanquisher!'

Without a second thought, Elaine obeyed her commands and rushed over, squeezing through masses of bodies towards the man. Her hands reached out to him as much as she could to grab his attention, knowing that her voice would never reach to him when the rhythm of the song became louder the closer she got to him. Just an inch more to latch on to his gray vest…

_[The train to South Kanavan Park will arrive soon. Please mind your step and stay behind the yellow line.]_

"Aaack!"

"Owch!"

"S-Sorry!"

Elaine groaned and looked up after getting pushed back forcefully by a larger person and falling on her bottom, only to find a blond man, smiling sincerely at her. A thought of why were there so many good looking men appearing now crossed her mind as she shook her head, eyes still connected to his own gold sparkling eyes.

"It's alright. The train was coming."

"Let me help you up." He offered her his hand. Naturally, Elaine reached for it.

SLAP

"OW! Rivera! What'd you do that for?!" Elaine blankly stared as the blond whined in pain after getting his hand slapped harshly. And was just speechless to see that it was the orange haired man that slapped it. The guy who seemingly possesses one of the Grand Chaser's soul.

"I don't trust you with girls. Any ages of any girls, you disgusting perverted pedophile," he snapped immediately as he grabbed the red head's hand and pulled her up. "Look, you have to know that Riku here is a womanizer who targets a girl's ass. So be careful around him. Best way is to completely avoid him."

"Rivera! Don't say that! She'll tell all her other girlfriends!"

"That's the point. This will ensure the fact I will never be another scapegoat to your stupid love affairs ever again." He retorted back immediately before glancing back to Elaine with a childish smile. "Actually… Now that I look at you closely…" He scanned the girl from head to toe. Elaine swore she saw his nose twitch ever so slightly. "You're from my neighborhood, right? At around South Kanavan Park."

"Yeah…" Elaine answered, half truthfully. Only because she knew she lived in that area and she didn't notice he lived at the same area as well. Actually, she couldn't remember seeing his face around at all when she was usually arriving at school very early and coming back late from school activities. But that orange hair of did seem a little conspicuous from the backgrounds in her memories.

"Oh I see. You gave me a bad name but you're picking up the girl instead. Pretty clever, Rivera." Sarcasm and irritation was in Riku's tone. The orange haired merely jabbed him by the stomach, sending him to his knees in pain.

"Riku. Go by yourself. You, let's go. The train's here." He smiled with his green eyes, holding on to Elaine's hand. "Unless, you're planning to go somewhere else?"

"… I'm going home."

* * *

Leaving Riku was a piece of cake, if you overlooked the fact he had clamped onto the man's legs, begging to come with him to a blind group date and they had to even call security to pull him away. The orange haired merely sighed next to Elaine, hopelessly thinking why he was even friends with such a guy.

"Oh yeah… I didn't introduce myself, right? I'm Rivera Axentinne, university student."

'I don't know what university means, but I can say that's something surprising.' Elesis inside couldn't help but slide a comment. 'Thought Ryan wasn't the nerd type.' Elaine hushed her immediately.

"Elaine Sieghart. Sophomore at East Noire high."

"Hey, that's where I graduated from~!" He laughed cheerfully to the petty coincidence as his hand scratched the back of his neck. Elaine couldn't help but let her red eyes trail on to his hand, and up to his ears. He was still wearing those headphones. She could feel the music was dead; not a single beat could be felt, and heard, from them. Why was he still wearing them?

'I'm curious about them as well, Elaine….' The knight hummed. 'Those 'headphones' don't really suit him…'

'What do you mean, Elesis?'

'He's actually a-'

"Okay. So what did you want from me?" Before Elesis could tell her the rest, Rivera had caught her attention.

"Huh?" Elaine blinked at her blankly.

"You tugged my jacket just before you were pushed back by Riku. I know there's no way a girl would just approach me. Cause I'm…." He trailed away lightly before covering his face in what she thought was shame and humiliation. "…. I know I'm forever alone…"

'That's no surprise…' Elesis commented bluntly once more. 'Ryan was really obsessed with nature, he'd forget people sometimes. That's what you get for obsessing over nature, you tree hugger!'

Elaine couldn't help but let out a snicker after listening to both parties. "Sorry..." She gave him a light apology with no feelings whatsoever but amusement. He didn't seem to mind it anyways. "I'll go straight to the point then. You have one of the members of the Grand Chase's soul in you and I'm going help you wake him up."

"… What?"

"Like I said. You have a soul in you. I'm helping you wake him up."

Rivera stared at her in disbelief. "Girl, you must have somehow bumped your head hard when you fell."

"I'm not joking! I don't joke!" She snapped back at the false accusation. "Believe me! I went through it all! The dreams, the fighting, the-" Elaine was suddenly gagged by a pair of hands as Rivera once more looked at her with his disbelieved puzzlement, and this time, he was paler and shocked as well.

"Hold on. You said.. _The dreams_? As in… You had them too…? The ones that keeps bugging you every night but leaves you completely blank when you wake up?!" Elaine nodded and soon enough she was freed from her restriction. The uni student leaned back on to his seat and sighed heavily, brushing off the sweat on his face. "Oh Gaia… I thought I was going crazy…"

"So you believe me? You'll let me wake Ryan's soul up?"

Rivera gave her a mere glance. He then stared onto the metal plated ground of the train. "Ryan… He's the guy inside me?... That means you've got someone inside you as well?"

"Her name's Elesis Sieghart. She was the Grand Chase's Savior."

"Grand Chase. I thought they were just fairy tales." Rivera blinked in surprise at the sudden sight of the high school girl winced in pain.

"Don't say that… Just don't. They're as real as the souls of the heroes inside us…" She muttered, angst entwined in her tone. The uni student could only imagine how the ancient hero seemed offended to his statement and just blew up inside her. He had no choice but to just give in to the girl.

"And who was Ryan? I mean, what was he like in the Grand Chase and all."

The red head asked the knight inside her the same question. Elesis grunted, still irked about the earlier topic. 'Repeat after me.'

"Ryan was the Grand Chase's Vanquisher, the storm that protected nature with Gaia's blessings. That's what Elesis tells me." The girl looked at him. He was gradually losing his childish aura, replacing it with a more concerned expression on his face. "He's also a… What..?!"

"What? What did this _Elesis_ say?"

Elaine stared at him with doubt. She reached out to his headphones and pulled them down. Long ears poked out of them, as the older man flinched away from her. "Elesis said Ryan was also an elf…"

* * *

_'Elesis said Ryan was also an elf…'_

Those words repeated themselves in his mind again and again to the point it was just torturous. Rivera looked at the orange haired man in the mirror, staring back at him with the same green eyes he had. His ears were long and pointed.

'No one else in my family had them… I had always assumed I was adopted or something…' He touched them lightly, observing them in deep interest. He sighed as he looked at them closely. 'So it's all this _'Ryan'_ person's fault that I have them, eh? That I'm an elf?'

_'Why am I waking him up when he's the cause of these?! You know how much I suffered because of them?! These pointed ears are the reason that isolated me from the world!'_

Teeth clenched and fist tightened, he glowered at the sight of those ears he had. Oh he could remember the countless years he had gone through when he was younger, being teased and tortured. All because he was different from the other kids. That he had long pointed ears.

'Oh and maybe I should blame the fact I became a monster when I was younger on this Ryan person!' Baring his teeth to the toned man in the mirror, fury boiled in the depths of his heart. Rivera remembered it all clearly, glowering into the midst of the emerald eyes.

He could recall the sole reason he was secluded amongst the others. All he wanted was to play a game of hide and seek. The others were already wary of how his ears seemed so.. Inhumane. But they chose to give him just one chance. When it was his turn to seek, everything began to feel strange. It was only when fur started to grow on him did he see something felt amiss. And soon enough he could see himself as a powerful beast. He could see the fearful expressions on the others.

Those faces had haunted him for years.

_'I don't care what you went through! I've gone worse! I've lost a friend because of the soul inside me! And look at me! I'm still fighting! So will you fight with me or not?!'_

His mind stopped. Elaine's voice was loud and clear in his head, screaming at him at the very last second they were together. She had lost a friend. That was far worse that having no friends at all, he thought to himself. The miserable feeling of loss of a beloved soul - compared to the misery he felt, of emptiness - he imagined it to be simply tormenting.

When Rivera drearily took a glance at the mirror once more, all he saw was a huge vermillion wolf.

* * *

Silence filled the red head's room. Elaine was on her bed, staring drearily into the space just beyond the ceiling above her. To anyone, she was just daydreaming moments before she could fall into slumber. But in reality, she was conversing with the spirit deep inside her.

'So Elesis, what should we do about Rivera? It's likely he won't cooperate with us…'

'But he believed us, did he?' The savior made her point. 'We'll work our way from there.'

Unconsciously, Elaine nodded. She quickly wondered if the spirit inside could see her nod and instead, made a hasty 'yes'. 'What about Rolan? How should we approach him?'

The girl bit her tongue instantly. She had forgotten Elesis' mood the moment they saw the teacher with her senior just back in the afternoon.

'… We'll tell him directly. If he really has Ronan's spirit, he would think it through before he acts.'

Elaine blinked in confusion. The savior was just cool by the mentioning of the teacher. 'Elesis…?'

'Huh? Oh. Sorry… I was thinking about something…'

'What is it? You're practically inside me so you can't hide it from me.'

'That is true, but I didn't plan on hiding it.' A soft chuckle of amusement came from the older spirit before she sighed in concern. 'The Orc Lord was one of our enemies. He approached us and he wanted me to sleep longer… He wants me out of the way…'

'That means… Everyone else's lives are in danger?!'

'Unless we wake them up. The Grand Chaser's souls can protect them that way.'

'But the enemies could come at them at any time and-'

TAP TAP TAP

"Kya-!" Elaine couldn't make a proper scream. Not when a huge paw with sharp nails covered her mouth. She stared at the being, the monster in her room; the gigantic orange pelted wolverine. With surprisingly fashionable denim blue pants.

"Ssshh! It's me! Rivera! Believe me!" The beast started stuttering as lowly as he could, but after looking at Elaine's pale and frightened face, he was convinced nothing was coming into her ear. She was just too startled that her systems froze. He groaned in irk. "Damn it. I can't believe I'm going to talk to a spirit… Elesis. If you're really in there.. Tell her to calm down. If you say there's this Ryan guy inside me, then you'd know, right?"

A few heartbeats later, Elaine was back to normal. It was then did Rivera let her go.

"Why didn't anyone tell me you could transform?!" The girl hissed at him in anger. The wolf merely shrugged and made his way onto Elaine's scarlet bed, sitting on it and slumping lazily.

"I can't transform by free will! And this hasn't happened in a long time! How was I supposed to tell you I could transform into a wolf when it's inconsistent?!" He growled back to the girl, slightly showing his fangs. But this time, it didn't seem to scare her at all.

'His transformations is useless if you asked me. I like relying on my own powers. But just to let you know, he's got three transformations and they strengthen him enormously.' Elesis groaned.

"Damn it! And you can transform into two other strong forms! That makes three! THREE! Three transformations in total!" The red head whined in irk. "Damn it! That seems so cool!"

"Three…?" Rivera questioned, curiosity roused greatly, especially when he heard the word 'strong'. Now what was that about?

"Elaine, darling? Are you alright?" Elaine flinched with Rivera as they immediately glared at the door of the bedroom. Another voice had made its appearance, accompanied by light knocks.

"N-no! Nothing's wrong, dad! I'm fine~!" Elaine yelped back to the door. When she looked back to see a concerned look from Rivera's wolverine face, she sighed. "What? You thought I lived in this house alone?"

"I forgot." Immediately the wolf lost all interest in such topic and looked around her room. It wasn't as girly as he imagined. Then again, he had never been to a real girl's room. But the typical stuffed toys lying around and cute clothes were poking about everywhere. And being a high school girl, he could see piles of books, papers and folders here and there as well.

"Well, what are you doing in my room?" Elaine crossed her arm, feeling awkward now that she was aware that there was someone else, older and male, inside her room and examining it all closely. "Actually, how'd you find where I live?"

"Powerful nose, awesome tracking skills. It's a wolf thing." He grinned widely to the point he involuntarily revealed his fangs as Elaine reminded herself to how he was actually sniffing her the moment they first met. "I'm here because I've decided. I want to know how to wake Ryan up."

"What a coincidence! I was thinking of searching for you so I could get you to wake him up before you were killed!" Elaine smiled happily as she clapped her hands with glee, sending shivers down the beast.

"… K- Killed?!"

"Elesis and I were just discussing about it. Before she woke up, some huge freak – or the Orc Lord, as called by Elesis - tried to kill me in order to keep her from waking up. It just means that the rest of the Grand Chase is targeted by his group."

"There are killers hunting for us?!"

"Sssshhhh! My brother is still in this house!" She hushed desperately as the wolf sank away from her, paws covering over his whole nuzzle. "Yes, if we don't get to them fast. Now, Naoto said that the only-"

"Who's Naoto?"

"Shut up and listen." She spat back, silencing the wolf. But more precisely, she rather not speak of him now. "Naoto said that it all happens in the dream world. You have to first unlock some sort of door, then you'll be able to call out Ryan's name to wake him up."

"That's pretty straight forward." Rivera bluntly spoke. He immediately shifted himself on the rose colored matt just on the center of the girl's room. "Good night."

With less than a passing second, he was blissfully snoring away.

"Seriously?! Sleeping in my room?!" The red head hissed angrily, but seeing that there was no response, she grumpily marched around him, towards her bed. After brushing off the orange pieces of hair left by the overgrown dog off her bed, Elaine glanced over to the said dog. '… What do you think made him change his mind?'

'Ryan loved his comrades like family - maybe even more. I'm guessing when you had mentioned about Naoto's condition, he might have felt how hurt you were…' The savior groaned lightly in a tone the girl hadn't heard before.

'Elesis… You miss them, don't you? You're comrades.'

'Course I do. They're my friends… They're like my family…' She trailed away softly. Yet it left Elaine a sharp thin pin, stabbing in to her. Was it Elesis' feelings? Her feelings of sadness? They were like the intense flame that ignited inside of her so suddenly just earlier that day, without her intentions to feel so.

'Hey, Elaine.'

'Yeah?'

'Are you close to your father?' Elaine blinked in surprise.

'Of course. Why wouldn't I? I love him.' A satisfied grunt came from the savior until slowly, she quiets down. In seconds, Elaine soon followed after, to slumber.

* * *

The plan was to wake Ryan up. And with the vanquisher's help, they could utilize Rivera's wolf transformation (if he could control it well), and track the rest of the current bodies of the chasers. It was, yes, pretty straight forward. And actually, it seemed easy enough.

But from a whole new perspective, it didn't seem so at all.

Elaine was yawning countlessly. Next to her, Rivera – now looking as a human (well, we can ignore his pointed ears for a while) – was grumbling in irk to how tired he felt.

They both spent the night horribly, the most portion going to the orange haired. And he didn't even realize how it happened. On the other hand, Elaine stared at the sleep deprived uni student cautiously.

She remembered how the orange bundle of fur was shivering uncontrollably, claws scratching the ground and leaving deep marks of fear and angst. Elaine sat there, watching the wolf whine in terror, unable to move herself to aid him at all. She was paralyzed; there wasn't anything relatively coherent enough in her mind that could help the wolverine.

The itch to jump in to the fight and aid the man was tremendously irritating. But how could she when the world he battled in was in one she could never reach?

Though, one thing that worked out that morning was how Rivera had turned back into a full grown man, half naked since he still had his pants on, and had successfully sneaked out of the house and back to his own place without anyone spotting him. It was merely coincidental that they had met once more, heading towards the station.

"Are you really alright, Rivera?" Again, Elaine asked the older man. He merely nodded.

"Yeah… I'm just… Astonished… That you made it seem so easy…" He muttered, letting silent sighs and dreary yawns pass by his mouth lightly. "Even though it's actually hard… From the way I'm so worn out…"

"Sorry…" A discontent groan seeped out of the teen. Why was he struggling so hard? She was perfectly fine when she went through it. All she did was to call out Elesis' name after-

'Of course! Why didn't I realize it sooner?!'

'You've thought of the same thing, Elesis?' A small grin formed on the teen's mouth. 'Ryan hasn't released from his neutral state. And that 'old man' knows what to do!'

"Why are you two smiling?" The dreary uttered as he blinked lazily. "Oh Gaia, I'm so worn out that I'm seeing double…"

"Are you sure you can go to your classes?"

"Yes, he is. I'll take care of him, little miss." The both souls jumped from hearing the third voice from behind. A smiling blond waved at them lightly as he made his way towards Rivera's back, patting him friendlily. "I mean, I should definitely return the favor. Hell, you left me for a little girl so I could spend the night with two hot babes! Dude, I am never making fun of your lolicon fetish ever again."

"Get away from me you disgusting pig! I don't have a lolicon fetish! And what the hell do you mean _again_?! I never had one!" The orange haired growled at the newly arrived Riku, harshly shoving his hands off of him. Elaine did nothing but sigh in the blond's stupidity and pity the orange haired's suffering.

_[The train to Centerpoint will arrive soon. Please mind your step and stay behind the yellow line.]_

Without realizing, Elaine had found that the three had already arrived at the station, just moments before the arrival of the train. She turned to Rivera as she fished out her cell phone. "Before I forget, give me your number."

"Oh okay. Let me get my phone …" He made the same gestures as the girl, reaching down into his baggy pants for his own cell phone.

'Number? Phone?' Inside Elesis stared through the teen's red eyes. Her hand held a small square like device with a flashy moving picture, quite similar to the older man's own device, but his was of a light green color and hers was a deep red.

'So I can contact him without meeting him.'

'Hmm… I guess that's useful…'

"Oh.. So you two lovebirds are going for another round or something?" Riku snickered as he nudged the both by their shoulders. Instantaneously, he was jabbed at his stomach by both, and left to whine in pain on the ground.

"Thanks. I'll update you with anything new, alright. So you better take care of yourself."

"Eh? We're not going to sit together on the train again?"

"No. I don't want people to see us suspiciously. Especially with that blond ass around." She chirped quickly as the train slowed down in front of them. She then skipped inside a carriage far from the two men. Rivera's eyes followed her as he headed into another carriage, placing his headphones over his ears. True, if people were to notice how close they suddenly became, things could bring about trouble and attention. And attention is something they had to avoid when they know that they were all targeted. And Rivera agreed to how Riku can be obnoxiously annoying.

"Hey, Rivera." A groan was behind him.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were still alive. Shall I hit you harder?" Rivera grunted back, uninterested to whatever the blond wanted to talk to him about. Hell, why was he even talking to him? Or hanging out with him for that matter? All the idiot does to the Rivera was to sexually harass him one way or another.

"Aww, come on, Rivera. We're best buddies!"

"I don't recall use being best buddies. As far as I'm concerned, you're just a classmate in my biology lectures…"

Riku stared at him turning up his music to maximum volume. The beat to the song was definitely loud; he could actually make out the song he was listening to without listening what the orange haired man hummed.

_"It's hard to say I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep"_

A light chuckle escaped the blond, unnoticed by the humming student. "You weren't using your headphones when you were with her… Showing that elven ears around… I'm guessing she's one of you guys, eh?"

_"Cause everything is never as it seems, when I fall asleep…"_

"I guess with all those tiresome nights you went through, that is true…" He whispered, leaving a grin on his face. "But don't you worry… Those dreams will soon end …"

* * *

The red head thought twice on approaching the history department. This was mostly because she was unsure of Elesis' reaction. After what happened last time, she was desperate not to make the tension filled scenario take place once more.

"Elaine?" She was startled the moment she heard the call of her name. A glance to her right and she saw the graceful Sibil, slowing down to match her pace. "I'm surprised that you'd actually go to this part of the school. Are you looking for a teacher?"

"Y-yeah... Sort of..." The teen smiled. A burning angst had bloomed inside of her, probably from Elesis. Why did the savior felt this way to the girl she looked up to as a sister? She had done nothing wrong. Did she? "Mr. Erudon, actually…"

"Ah! I was looking for him as well. You see, he's our superior of the club in charge of." She smiled lightly in that modest, mature way of hers. "Mr. Erudon's also kind and thoughtful. But he isn't really my type."

"Huh?" The red head blinked blankly.

"He's so.. Um.. What can I say…?" She hummed, "Weak, I guess. I like tough, masculine guys."

"…. I see…" Elaine dryly laughed afterwards, without a clue to how she should respond to what Sibil had told her. But her heart seemed to have lost a weight that had pressured her down. She assumed that Elesis had calmed down somehow. It puzzled her in many different ways. But she lost concern for it as it doesn't seem like she has to worry more.

"So Elaine… Are you looking for him because you're interested in him? I won't forgive you if you are. You'll have to wait for Naoto to wake up and give a reply first." Sibil joked lightly, attracting the flustered red head's attention. How could she be so happy at a time like this? After her brother's been admitted in the hospital. She giggled once more. "Elaine, I know you're worried, it's written on your face."

"Eh really?"

"Yeah. I guess that's one reason you're adorable." Elaine couldn't help but blush to her compliment. "But honestly, I'll be alright. I know that... Even if Naoto's always calm and reserved, I know he'll get really angry if he sees me in depression." Sibil grinned at the girl. Yet the red head could see it; she was shivering lightly, holding back her grief.

'She's really strong…' The savior commented from behind. Elaine agreed to her as she grabbed the snowy haired teen's hand.

"Let's go find Mr. Erudon, alright?"

"Yeah." The red head nodded, returning a comforting smile.

Inside, she noted to herself to find out the relationship the savior had with this abyss knight.

* * *

He gaped in awe, looking at the vast scene that spread before him; A thriving city with a bustling center and cheerful people. It couldn't get any better can it? The royal navy flags held up high and dancing with the wind with its gold emblem. It was truly a grand place, greater than anywhere else he had ever been in his life.

_'The city of knights is prosperous and magnificent,  
Guarded by the Royal Kanavan Knights of azure,  
Leave everything that clouded your vision and go,  
Stride forth, take back your title, your people.'_

Confusion always blurred his mind whenever he heard those lyrics. He thought he was calculative and cautious enough to avoid such a thing like getting a clouded vision, or to his opinion, a blurred truth. He shook his mind of the negativity.

When he blinked his eyes open, everything blacked out.

**Chapter 2 - End**

* * *

Woo~! Rivera and Rolan, the containers of Ryan and Ronan.

I must be sick sadistic person. I love calling Ronan a noob. It could be he's just dead gorgeous to the point he looks like a girl (especially with the recent updates..), or the fact I keep killing my brother's Ronan in Pvp. And his name.. Rolan. Wow. Takes a genius to make up that name which requires changing one letter. 3

Actually, the name Rolan means something like 'famous land'. And it's from Mid-Europe... Somewhere there.

I've decided to turn Sibil into the older refine sibling who has a strong taste in macho men. Mmmm... Beefcakes. Hahahaha... It's all out of Random shit really.

Rivera is into music. He has just listened to Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Greenday and Fireflies by Owl City. They seem to match his current character so I used those songs. And next to him is Riku being an ass =D

Oh yeah. Elesis here knows about trains and cars. Well, slightly. This is because of 1. The Grand Chase has been on the Underworld Express which involves a train. 2. Mari has a freaking tank - she even drives one into the dungeon if you use her third job, if I'm not mistaken. So more or less, that savior can figure some stuff out or else she becomes just another idiot for show which I don't really enjoy writing about. Though I have yet to see whether the Grand Chase ever come across a device for communication. That or I haven't observed Mari enough... =-="

Hmm... Can't think of anything else to say so Ciao~


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 : Wishing Bold Texts Can Be Done**

Rivera groaned in irk, letting a huge yawn escape his lips. He had gone through what could be the worst two hours of his life. The orange haired had just been battling the need to sleep so he could at least listen to his lecturer speak. At the same time, he had tried to ensure that not one soul had noticed it.

He failed the latter of course, when he felt a pat on his back and a concerned groan. Whenever this happened, he knew that the blond classmate of his had spotted his struggles. Frankly, he appreciates this. But on the other hand…

"Yo, Rivera. Are you that sleepy cause you spent the whole night up with that girl?"

"Shut the hell up." A usual jab to his stomach was a common greeting that Rivera had done. But who was he to blame when the Riku had said such a thing? Leaving the blond to recover on the spot, he whipped out his phone.

'Woah. 16 missed calls. And all of them are from Elaine. Must be something important…' The man groaned weakly the moment he saw only 2 text message had come from the high school girl.

_[Ercnard Sieghart. Black hair, gray eyes. Arrogant bastard. Immortal. Look out for him because he got clues.]_

'What the hell? An arrogant bastard? How am I supposed to find someone like that? And immortal? Does that even exist?!' Rivera scrolled down to the next message.

_[Believe it or I'll murder both you and that nature freak elf inside of you; Elesis' **exact words**.]_

A shiver had run down his spine to those bolded words. Firstly, how the hell did that girl manage to send him a message with bold words? Rivera sighed. He must be getting left behind by today's generation, or Elaine just has her ways. Either way, he wasn't really comfortable with technology in the first place. He told himself with all honestly, he rather be trapped in a forest than the tech savvy city as he was rather fond of wildlife.

The second thing that freaked him out was that those were Elesis' exact words. An ancient spirit with who knows what kind of powers she possessed, and already threatened to kill him if he didn't believe this. Well, he has always been a believer when it matters. 'I mean… I still pray to one of the Gods that watch over us.'

Rivera hadn't known the exact time, but he knew that somewhere along the timeline of Aernas, the power of the gods was gradually forgotten and replaced with human technology and innovation. Faith was losing to the logical reasoning of science. He was part of the handful of people who still practiced religion. And part of a smaller group of those who worshiped the same goddess as he does. Gaia.

Speaking of the goddess, she was the guardian of life. Quiet closely associated with nature. It was the first reason he had to start becoming a believer of the priestess. Nature had become something he enjoyed being in peace with. It had become his only place to retreat to when the world isolated him, when the world looked at him differently because he was different.

'Now that I think about it… If I hadn't had these ears, I wouldn't be the nature geek I am today… I would've been influenced by the kids back then to be something like a footballer or something…' He shivered in disgust to the thought of becoming a sport orientated. They do nothing much but to maintain their bodies to top condition train hard and compete battle after battle. It was a life that, even if he would never understand, he would never give in to.

In any case, he still found it all strange. How can an ancient warrior spirit influence how he looks like? Of course he could understand the ability to transform; who wouldn't believe that you got supernatural powers from a soul who was the so called Vanquisher? It was the fact that it can also give him an elven appearance that worried him. No one in his whole family looked the least elven. Then again, he didn't really know how an elf really looks like.

Nevertheless, the orange haired man sighed. If looking out for a black haired 'immortal' could help him, then he wouldn't mind keeping his eyes wide open for a while. 'No more classes today… I'll just go home.'

"Hey, Rivera." The sudden grip on his hand by the blond jolted him. With such strength he had never acknowledged Riku to have, the man was just surprised.

"What?..." He cursed at himself for using a shaky tone to reply after getting a jolt. He thought he could regain his composure quick enough before he replied. But the man was relieved when he took no notice in the small details.

"I know I'm can be an ass and all, but I'm worried about you, bro." Riku whined, almost too pitiful for the orange haired to ignore. There was this slight glint in his gold eyes that pulled his attention. "Jokes aside, you've been really sleep deprived and it's distressing. Heck, you're even hanging out with some kid so suddenly… Are you blackmailed or something? I can help, ya know?"

"Riku…" Awkwardness filled the elven spirited man first, but at the same, he felt touched. This guy can actually show kindness for once. A grim feeling then began to grow inside him as goose bumps appeared all over him. "Are you trying to confess to me or something? Because I rather become a lolicon than gay…."

"Dude, there's no way I'll swing to the other side after getting two girls to hang with me! Hell, I've even got one of them to have a special date with me later, if you know what I mean!" He snickered lightly, giving Rivera a glimpse of his usual self. But a glimpse meant that it was momentarily as he returned back to a serious state. "Seriously, dude. We're friends, okay. We help each other out."

"… I don't recall being friends with a pervert like you." Rivera replied sternly, shoving the blond back to his hand. He then walked away, looking back into his phone. He then heard the blond laugh.

"You say that but your ears are really red!" Suddenly, the blond pulled down his headphones from the back, letting those long pointed ears to flop into place. It jolted Rivera in the process, so he glared back to those yellow eyes to silence him. He grabbed back his headphones and covered them, then stormed away.

Though left behind, Riku merely laughed, gently this time. He cupped his hands in front of his mouth, creating a makeshift megaphone. "DID YOU KNOW? ELF EARS ARE RECESSIVE?!"

"Wha-?! SHUT THE HELL UP!" He whined back angrily, rushing away from the scene as quickly as possible. 'That idiot!' Rivera growled to himself, 'If he wants to humiliate himself, then he shouldn't drag me in to it!'

Though, it did leave an impression on him. Rivera looked at his cellphone once more. 3.40pm. "… Wonder if he's in that very staff room now…"

* * *

"What…?" Blank blue eyes stared at the red head. She looked back at him, inexpressive of any emotions but utter solemnity.

"You have the spirit of the Abyss Knight of the Grand Chase, Ronan Erudon, inside you." She spoke sternly back at the man. "And I need you to wake him up before the bad guys find you and kill you."

Rolan sat on his chair, still blankly staring at her, a student who had just told him he was part of some sort of group of heroes from a children's fairy tale. He then groaned, pressing on to the bridge of his nose. Elaine was a student known in the staff for skipping her history classes. Though most understood how her previous teacher could be more than a tad bore, it was surprising that Rolan managed to keep even her stuck to her seat in the said class.

That's was what worried the man. She may have said such a thing because she was angry with him. Or that she was merely teasing him after becoming interested in a teacher she has just met. His fingers had trailed down to his neck, scratching it lightly. "… Miss Sieghart… With such misconducted behavior, it's quite easy for me to give you an official punishment, you know. So I suggest you stop this fairy tale nonsense so we can all have an enjoyable life in high school."

Initially, the girl scowled. Letting loose some curses without care that a superior was in the room. "Fairytale nonsense?! Mr. Erudon, the Grand Chase is far above that! They're REAL. And so is evil that is conspiring against us! Look at Naoto! He got injured because he tried-"

"Naoto? You mean, Naoto Hastern? Sibil's younger brother?" Deep concern entwined in his tone interrupted the red head. Elaine nodded. "I thought he was attacked by a mob of delinquents…"

"Well, rumors are usually exaggeration. The truth is that Naoto was protecting me from some Orc Lord because I had the soul of Elesis Sieghart." Rolan blinked at the girl. Her aura had suddenly fallen into depression; red eyes had lost its passionate glint. It didn't bother him anymore if she was dead serious or not – He could practically see tears forming in her eyes. He needed to believe her.

"Fine," he sighed reluctantly. "So… How do I wake this guy up?"

Elaine suddenly smiled brightly, taking the teacher off guard. The fighting spirit in her eyes began sparking beautifully; it was the first thing that caught his attention. Because the way it flickered was totally different from before. 'No, it's still the same but… It's nostalgic..'

"First, we need to pull the spirit out of their neutral state. Then, we can just summon them out by calling out their names, and done. Simple."

Rolan blinked blankly. "… No magic? No tricks? Just that?"

"Yeah, what did you expect? This isn't some fairy tale where everything's all sparkly." She snorted, puffing out her chest. At the same time, Rolan gazed away, slightly embarrassed to how childish the thought of an actual magic filled fairy tale actually crossed his mind.

But he can't help it. Rolan Erudon, 26 years old, was a magic fanatic. He loved all that was fantasy related and craved to handle his own enchants. But because he was a teacher, and a respectable scholar in society, he had to suppress his desires to let his childish ways take over and pursue his initial ambition; to research on lost magic and achieve the ability to restore the powers back to this world.

"But here's the problem. It all takes place in the dream world."

"Dream… World…" A shiver ran down his spine the moment she said that. These past few days, he had been terribly haunted by nightmares that he can't perceive, let alone remember what it was about. Rolan had thought he had hid it well, but he began to question his capability after the girl had mentioned the topic. Or was it just mere coincidence?

"Don't think it through, Ronan. We know you've suffered from those _dreams_."

"We? Who's we? And how do you know about the dreams?!"

"Because I was tormented by them until I woke up…" A distinctively weird pause, then she continued, "The soul inside me, Elesis Sieghart. She is the Savior of the Grand Chase. So 'we' referred to both Elesis and myself." Elaine confidently replied. She then turned away. "And because this isn't a fairy tale where everything's easy, finding a way to get the spirit out of its neutral state is something like a personal problem we have to overcome individually."

"Wait, what?!"

"I expect from Ronan's container that you can overcome this with ease." A taunt from the high school girl was the last he heard of her before she left the room. Who was she to taunt a teacher?! In his own territory?! He groaned reluctantly, pressing the bridge of his nose again.

He had been anticipating the moment he had forgotten those dreams for the day, and now he was reminded of them once more. Well, only a distortion of it. For some reason, he couldn't remember it all fully. All he could vision was a blurred, ancient city, and he stood before it. It left him deprived of information and it frustrated him madly.

'Kids these days are really troublesome…' Rolan grunted. How did that red headed student know about those dreams? She said she was tormented by them… Was she related in all this? He gave out an irked growl, seeing as he was lacking of knowledge in this field. Then he made a side note to ask the girl once more.

'And just before this nonsense, Sibil Hastern wanted me to take her place deal with the principal for the decrease of financial income for the club.' He cursed. It was actually the treasurer's fault. He didn't really favor the new treasurer of the school. She was uptight and pretty bossy; it suffocated him just being near her. What made it worse was that she was younger than him. 'Seriously… I don't even know why I teach …'

A light series of knocks was made on the door of the room. He wasn't even given a chance to reply when it swung open and a bunch of orange bangs appeared suddenly inside the room. The man was taller, green eyed and had that smug wolfish grin. He wore not a school uniform but denim jeans and green jacket as well as large conspicuous headphones. Rolan groaned to how recognizable this man was. 'Great. Another student to trouble me…'

"Mr. Erudon~!" He sang happily, skipping towards a chair and landing on it with a flop. He was Rivera Axentinne, one of the many strange students he ever taught in his life. The man always kept those headphones on, despite being in class – he didn't care how many times he was forced into the disciplinary room. The only time everyone could tell that he was really listening to you was when you couldn't hear loud music vibrating from them. But the man had his purposes, which Rolan respected and left it be.

Yet there was a different air that the younger man possessed that stood out, other than his headphones. It was the fact that despite being an outgoing person, cheering with others and laughing freely, it all felt fake. That only Rolan noticed when he had spotted the man in isolation in the school's garden, showing a much realistic and content smile. It was then did he started to socialize with Rivera not as just student and teacher, but two people who wanted to create a bond of friendship with each other.

"Cut the crap, Rivera.. I'm not your teacher anymore. Just call me Rolan."

The man merely chuckled. "But sir~ You're always my teacher, so it feels weird… But I'll try anyway.. _Rolan_…"

He shot a glare to the younger man after hearing his name said in an awkward way. "So what do you want, Rivera?" The man was also one of Rolan's student, taking history classes for extra credit. Extra credit for a chance to get a place in Centerpoint University, a prestigious haven of education fit for scholars that pursue higher education. If he remembered correctly, the orange haired had taken biology minor. It was pretty clear what he took as his major. "If you want some tutoring for botany, you've gone to the wrong place."

"But you tutored me for biology regardless of being a history teacher, and that's enough, right?" He smiled back, ignorant to the annoyance in the teacher's tone. Rolan sighed though; he knew he couldn't stay angry at him. There was this feeling that Rivera had that amused him. Besides, he used to be what you could call a model student back in the day – there was no way he could reject a junior's plead for help.

"So this is about biology? You do know you have lecturers in your university for a reason."

"Well, I came to you because it's _half_ Biology."

"Half?"

"The other half being about history." Rivera leaned back, fiddling with the wire of his headphones. "_Rolan_, what do you know about elves? And their genetics?"

The man blinked in astonishment to such question before he ignored the still awkward way of saying his first name. Elves were a huge topic taught in the history of Kanavan. Mostly because of the fact there was a tight alliance between the human race and the elven race in Bermessiah. Both races treasured nature as it was part of the circle of their lives. Clans of human-elf hybrids were formed as well, as a sign of their friendship.

Well, that was about 6 decades ago. Now, it was just rare to hear the world elf unless it was history related.

Around the time humans had entered the industrial revolution, they began to crave the need for resources, also known as raw materials. And raw materials can only be extracted from nature, damaging it in the process. This caused an uproar between the elves and the humans. Humans wanted to progress to a new era, but the elves wanted to preserve the old ways.

It wasn't long before bloodshed occurred. Years and years of countless fiefs and battles between the two races tainted the continent of Bermessiah, destroying the once so beautiful scene in the process. Negotiations for peace amongst the two was nearly too impossible to achieve.

In the end, technology ruled over the elves and drove them to a corner. A treaty of submission was forced upon them, but before any agreements were to be made, the elves had just disappeared from the face of the Bermessiah.

"Well, there isn't much to say about the elven biology. It's quite similar to the human biology… So, what did you mean about their genetics?" Rolan questioned once more to the man after being lost in thought of the disastrous event. He always felt the guilt of the disappearance of the elves as part of the human race. They were like them, living souls with families, personalities, feelings. Frankly, it wasn't just him; a lot of people were feeling bad about it. But he shook it off as he knew depression won't bring the nature loving race back.

"Something like their…. Ears, perhaps?" the university student questioned, almost as if that was the only thing he was definitely curious about. But the teacher didn't give another deep thought to it and simply answered.

"Ears? Odd… Usually when people do ask me about the elven biology, it's about their slow aging ability…"

"And I'm guessing that those people are mostly girls." A snicker seeped out of the orange hair, knowing his guess was, no matter how stupid, was pretty accurate.

"Apparently, most girls want to keep their natural beauty… It's better than make up but…" He sighed, shaking off the thought out of his head. "Anyways, their ears, right? Well, truth be told, I know little about them, despite being an important characteristic in the elven biology." Rolan pressed the bridge of his nose. "All I can remember is that the ears have a heightened sense of hearing for survival in forests."

"…. Are they recessive?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are elven ears a recessive gene?" Rivera asked once more, a desperate tone entwined deep inside it, eyes begging for an answer.

"… I guess… Majority of human-elf hybrids recorded were without elf ears. The expected amount of people to possess them should be ¼ , but the probability doesn't seem to match up. So people just consider the hybrids as humans instead."

"R-Really?! So, if two hybrids were to get together, the chances of having a long eared child could be.."

"At most, ½ chance. But finding parents who both have the recessive gene in this day and age is extremely hard. And then you have to consider the fact that it's been decades since the last elf was seen so I-"

"That's all I need to know. Thanks, Rolan!" Before Rolan could complete his sentence, he was tackled by the younger man and squeezed to death. "Dear Gaia! I feel like a huge burden was lifted off of my chest!"

"Scus me but you're squeeezin meh ti.." Rivera blinked out of his delirious state, only to see he had choked the man until he turned pale. He promptly let go and smiled, letting Rolan regain his composure and catch his breath. After a couple of huge exhales, the teacher had to ask in curiosity. "So what's this about, eh?"

A faint, yet satisfying grin seemed to have appeared on the man. "You know, I used to hate my ears… They drove me into isolation back when I was young. But I think because of them, I found my love for nature. Though instead I found myself worrying about whether I was related to my parents or not. But after what you told me, Rolan, I think I'll be fine."

Regardless of not knowing the whole situation, Rolan merely nodded in understanding. But he blinked in amazement, when the younger man dragged down his headphones, revealing a pair of long elven ears.

"I think… I'll start to like these ears…"

* * *

Meanwhile, let us reverse time to when Elaine had left the history teacher's room….

The red head marched out with head held high, confident that the teacher will do well. 'I think I did well on that!'

'Did well? Yeah, right. You called him Ronan once and nearly said _you_ woke up instead of you… Waking up and… Oh you know what I mean!' Another voice scowled at her in a matter-of-factly tone. The red headed teen rolled her red eyes.

'Oh hush, Elaine. If the method works, then he'll still find out about me.' She huffed back in her mind.

In reality, in the midst of the conversation between the teen and the teacher, Elesis had forced herself into action, cutting off Elaine halfway.

'Sides, I saved you from bursting into tears when you mentioned Naoto…'

'I was not going to burst into tears!' The high school girl screamed back. 'There was just something in my eye…!'

'Yes, yes… Now on to the next business!' Elesis pushed back the ranting high school girl to the back of her mind. She then sighed. If this was how much it felt when anyone argued with herself, then they must have quite a lot of patience to stick with her. Elesis then turned to her right and made a smile. "Thanks for waiting for me, Sibil."

"It's alright, Elaine. You wanted to speak to me, right?" The white haired teen gave her usual radiant smile. A thought slipped into Elesis' mind about how annoying it seems to her.

"Yeah, and privately too." The younger girl grabbed her hand and dragged her off.

'Are you really going to ask her?' Inside, Elaine asked tentatively. She had already become the reason her brother is resting one of the many white rooms of the hospital. Involving Sibil was like being a family killer. And what if Sibil was entirely clueless about the whole Grand Chase thing?

'Yes. And I won't back out from my decision. Even if she wasn't involved, she might be later on since she's close to Naoto, Rolan and you. But if she was part of all this, then we might have a better insight than what we have now.' Elesis promptly replied, hearing Elaine groan reluctantly in agreement, before she decided to just enter some random empty classroom. "Sibil, in here."

"Okay… So…?" The older girl pondered lightly, leaning on a table as she watched the younger girl shut the door tightly.

"…"

"Elaine?"

"Sibil. You're part of it, aren't you? The whole Grand Chase awakening. You can't hide it from me, you know." Straight to the point, Elesis asked without reservation, shocking both Elaine inside her and Sibil.

Light blue eyes blinked once. Twice. Then a soft giggle followed afterwards. "I'm assuming you're just saying that so I'd say the truth." Sibil scratched her nape, "in any case, yes, I do know"

"Aha!" A cheerful shout came from the red head. But she suddenly tensed in confusion. "Then… Why didn't you tell us when Naoto got injured? And why are you telling this so easily? Naoto was reluctant to do so…"

A sigh seeped out of the white haired. "Elesis, you love asking questions, don't you…"

"And how do you know I'm Elesis, right now?!" The girl jerked back, covering her mouth when Sibil glared at her to stop bombarding her with questions. The blue eyes then calmed.

"I didn't mention it to you earlier because I made an oath to Naoto… That I won't say anything to you unless he gave permission to…" Solemnly she blinked, glancing out towards the open sky of the outside world. "Of course, he did say if anything were to happen to him, I'm free to move by my own accord to protect you in his place… That's why I'll stop restraining myself from speaking of this matter to you."

"Why do you need something like his permission? This is a matter of life and-" Elesis bit her tongue, realizing she had asked another question.

"Cause, unlike me who wants to see the Grand Chase rise up once again, Naoto was against awakening everyone once more. This kind of explains his reluctance…"

"What…?!"

"Don't get me wrong, Naoto's a good kid… He was just upset to know that on the other hand, chaos is rising up as well…"

This much, Elesis understood. No one loved a world of evil, where chaos rampaged around and destruction ruled over (except a couple of people she knew). And with the rebirth of the Grand Chase comes the fact that there shall be an antagonist that rivals their power that plans to take over, causing innocents to be involved and injured, and more lives to be taken away…

"Oh and I know you're Elesis and not Elaine because there's a spark in your eyes that only Elesis has." Sibil giggled lightly, making the red head blush.

"Then I have one question…"

* * *

Rivera blinked his eyes open. He stood in an empty void, nothing in sight. It all seemed like a routine to him, entering this place. 'Ahh… I'm dreaming again…. Hold on… When did I fall asleep?'

He grunted to himself as he remembered. He had selfishly decided to go out to drink with his old teacher and waited for the man to finish up his work. Though, somewhere along those dreadful minutes of waiting, the world seemed to blur away.

Then tiny lights began to flicker around him lightly. The will-o-wisps that enjoyed dancing around him, the ones that always enthralled him, visited him. Glowing brightly around him, he unconsciously reached out towards them.

But he suddenly flinched, withdrawing his hands away from them. Rivera remembered what those things did to him. Yet, it was too late as one of the lights had fallen upon his skin.

One by one, memories from the past played in his mind like the cinema. Those years of isolation from society haunted him and it was all because he was different. His friends had turned their backs on him and the adults had herded their children away from him. It became a lot more awful when he had unconsciously transformed into a wolf.

_'The kid with the long ears... He's a monster…'_

_'He'll kill you if you get close to him…'_

Those words that had haunted him for years were slowly returning to him, tormenting his very existence. Rivera ran away. As far as he could, he wanted none of those words entering his ears, torturing his mind. 'Headphones?! Where were they?!'

His headphones were his source of solace. All these years, he had hidden his ears from the world, so none could see him as a monster. At the same, those headphones had been the ones that had sheltered him from the harsh words people threw at him. Those headphones… Where were they…?!

'Rivera!'

He suddenly froze to the familiar voice that called out his name. Looking around, he had ended up in a majestic evergreen forest. Everything from the dusky damp undergrowth to the leaves that hang prideful at the very top of the trees, he felt all too familiar. 'This place…'

'… Yeah… This place is where it all lead me…' A light smile had formed on his face. Had it not been his ears, he would have never been isolated from society, and discovered his enormous passion for flora and fauna of the world. Immediately, he calmed down, absorbing the scenery. '… Everything that happened in the past… Had made who I am now…'

A glitter of light at the corner of his eye caught his attention. Those will-o-wisps floated around him once more, this time, Rivera merely stared at them. His mind was coherent, thinking back to everything that happened in this dream world. He swore a new verse of a song had revealed itself to him.

_'He is the Grand Vanquisher, the Guardian of all,  
Keeping his ground, he fails to waver from his stance,  
With either the Pike or the Blades, his storms continue  
To send his enemies cowering and trembling away,  
He moves as the Defender of Nature, of Life and death,  
And as the very blessing of the goddess Gaia.'_

He gaped in awe to the song. "So… Is that what they say… About this Ryan guy… He must really be a great person…"

"Of course, I'm a great person!" The orange haired jolted as he heard another voice replying to him. Before him, the glowing spirits had gradually gathered together, forming a distinctive body. Yet the first Rivera noticed were those pointed ears that stuck out… Then a wild and messy orange hair… Then glowing green eyes that stared back at him. The character yawned and stretched in his white and green armor. "Awww man… Do I feel stiff.… Dear Gaia... How long had I been sleeping…."

Rivera blinked once, twice. There standing in front of him… Was a younger version of him, in some sort of armor that looked suitable on him. But still… "…. I thought you were going to be older than me…"

"Well, I'll have you know that I've done better things than you despite being younger," mischievously, the boy grinned, taunting the present self. He then whistled, "But man… I thought you'd never get over that past of yours… Otherwise, I'll be sleeping like a log for another few centuries or something…"

He firmed up suddenly, taking the man's hand and shook it. "I'm Ryan Woodsguard. The Vanquisher of the Grand Chase. Pleased to be working with you from now on."

* * *

The teacher stared at the orange haired man weirdly. How can he just sleep so blissfully on the couch of the history department? Especially when he knows that it smells like dust and old coffee. But more or less, Rolan was jealous that the orange haired could sleep.

How he wanted to sleep peacefully like that. Blast those annoying dreams. He couldn't even call them dreams when they bugged him so much that it deprived him of proper sleep.

A slow pace of breathing…

A beautiful trance…

"Shut up…"

Shut up? Rolan blinked his eyes several times, realizing he had nearly fallen asleep himself. He then noticed that the man had started twitching violently in his sleep, shifting himself each time he swore lightly.

"Axentinne..? Axentinne? Are you alright?!" Rolan shoved himself off his chair and towards the man, shaking him from his slumber. But it was at vain as nothing seemed to work.

PI PI PI

"Dear Kanavan, what now?!" The teacher growled, realizing that the cell phone of the university student was beeping violently. "Axentinne!... Damn it, Rivera! Frickin wake up!"

Silence then followed after, with the exceptional satisfying snores of a sweet dream. The drastic change was so sudden that it shocked the man tremendously.

PI PI PI

The phone continued to scream for attention though.

"Axentinne. Wake up. Your phone just received mail."

Instead, the only response that the teacher had was a louder series of snores. Rolan groaned in irk. The message tone was getting louder. He reached for the pocket of the man and took the device. Just one glance over its screen told him that the message was from that red headed student.

'Why is he involved with her?' Curiosity just enveloped the man as he opened the mail.

_[Got some info on the awakening. Apparently, the challenge set for you in the dream world has something to do with your current self that is unable to sync with the Grand Chaser's soul. Though, the answer is still only available from finding it in one's self.]_

_[By the way, seems like I've found another Chaser. I think he still doesn't believe me so tomorrow, help me on persuading him about all this. Or** die like a pathetic elf boy you are**. Still Elesis' exact words…]_

He was merely astonished to her texts. Firstly, how did she manage to bold a word in a text message? Secondly, she was really serious about this business to the point she even got Rivera into it. 'Wait a minute… How did she know Rivera in the first place? And does that mean Rivera's just had that kind of dreams as well…?'

Rolan could only stare in disbelief. Seriously, what could all this mean?

* * *

"Rolan… Who the hell was that woman?! I don't remember seeing such a beast teaching here in the school!" The orange haired hissed under his breath to the man next to him. Once in a while, he glared behind him, only to see a stern-looking violet haired woman glaring back at him.

"She's the new financial officer of the school. And apparently, she hates every living thing but herself." Rolan whispered back, trying to keep his voice as low as possible. He sneaked a glance back as well. The woman was definitely giving her usual death glares to the both of them. Truthfully, Rolan wasn't so familiar with the woman; she was a new co-worker and she was in a different division. He didn't even know her name. All he knew was that after Rivera had slept soundly, she swung open the door and screamed at them to get out of the school.

"Damned… And I had finally scored a sweet dream…" The orange haired muttered in irk, leaving Rolan to stare at him. Had he done the so called 'awakening'? Had he managed to bring back the ancient soul of the past to this world? What kind of character is that person that lives in him? Actually, what kind of person was the soul residing inside of him like? He was just so curious to all this because it all differed from the average life. At the same, it did freak him out.

Why would he be one of the people who possessed one of the souls of the Grand Chase? And the Abyss Knight for that matter! He was but an ordinary teacher…

On the other hand, Rivera kept sneaking glances to the older man. '…. Are you sure that this guy here is a friend..?'

Ryan from inside laughed. 'Course he is! He reeks of magic that only and Abyss Knight has! There's no other person than Ronan Erudon who can smell like that to the point it's really annoying for my nose to detect!' The uni student didn't really get what the vanquisher had just mentioned, but he understood that he couldn't be faltered. The ancient spirit was pretty convinced that his teacher was like them.

A door slammed open, jolting the two men. As they turned, they saw the woman bellowing once more. "SCHOOL REGULATION STATES THAT NO ONE IS TO BE IN THE SCHOOL AFTER 5.30!"

"But it's not even 5 yet!" A scream was replied, sending the two men to shivers. Who dared to go against this woman?!

"Don't talk back to me, Elesis Sieghart!" She growled, watching at the red headed high school girl stalk out of the room angrily. Behind her, a white haired teen followed after timidly.

'I thought those two had returned home already..?!' Rolan eyed them both in suspicion. Why on earth were those two there? Then again, Elaine did mention that she was familiar with Sibil's brother. The two girls hastened their pace until they were behind the men, close enough for only them to hear a whisper amongst themselves.

"Heheheh.. So Elaine's a rebel…" A light snicker came from Rivera. Of all times…

"Shut it, Rivera. I don't like being commanded, alright? And what about the both of you?! Giving into her easily?"

"… Damn it.." He groaned, but then he lit up. "Elaine! I did it…! Ryan's awake." Rivera gave a grin to the red head, only to flinch that a white haired teen and his old teacher had heard his whispers. "Uhh…"

"Don't worry, Rivera. They know." Elaine grunted back. "Sibil's a guardian and Mr. Erudon here is also one of us…"

"What..?"

"Come on, Elaine. Now, we can all four of us go out together and have a proper chat." The older girl smiled gracefully to all.

"Proper chat? The four of us?" Rolan stared at them blankly, whilst Rivera groaned in question.

"… Oh yeah… You two. Come with us." Elaine quickly spoke, "And that was an order."

Both men grumbled quietly, mostly because they were getting annoyed that a younger person was commanding them.

But all didn't notice the blond that stood at the school gates, watching them from the distance. "… Shit… She's with them…"

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…. You're telling me, you're one of the guardians entrusted by the gods to protect us whilst the souls were still sleeping?!" Rolan slammed the table before him as he stood in astonishment, staring at the two teen girls sitting in front of him freaked out. He then awkwardly sat, apologizing to the quiet society of the restaurant.

"I'm sorry to have not mentioned this before, sir…" Sibil groaned, "I wasn't really allowed to reveal myself until now… But everything Elaine and I have said is true."

"Well, why else would I lie anyways?" The red head half mumbled, half scarfed her double-decker cheese burger. Elesis had returned into her subconscious moments before, letting the modern girl deal with the modern day restaurant service. "I mean, there are no benefits in this if it was all a prank…"

Meanwhile, Rivera reached for the chips and grabbed a handful. He then stuffed his cheeks with the salty goodness, unaware of where the conversation was going. He was guessing it was going towards a three way argument between Rolan, Sibil and Elaine. His let his green eyes fall on to the rest of the world. People were bustling about in the family restaurant. Outside, even more were walking around. Well, it was after school.

'Wow… So this new era… It's… Less green…' Ryan muttered, watching the scene through the eyes of the uni student.

'Yeah, I got used to it… But you know, I rather it be full of life here and there, you know what I mean?' He replied back to the vanquisher, only to hear a grunt of agreement.

'Back then, it was the responsibility of the elves that kept the forest prospering… So how did it become so lacked of trees…?'

Rivera stayed silent, staring emptily outside. How can he give a reply to the man, knowing the truth may damage his spirit greatly?

"So Rivera, did you really wake Ryan up?" Out of the blue, a question was thrown to him. He blinked blankly to them all. Elaine sighed and repeated her question.

"Y-yeah… I was just talking to him… Why?"

Elaine stared at him intensely, to the point it sent a shiver running down his spine. "Ryan, what's a stargazer?"

Immediately, Rivera perked up. The ancient soul inside of him suddenly spoke out a thousand words about the said object. "W-well… Ryan says that a stargazer is a hybrid lily flower that-"

"Okay, you can stop… Elesis said that it already enough for her to tell that Ryan's up…"

"What? Like that? Then if I said something like I know the names of all the guards in Kanavan, you'd believe that I had woken up that Ronan person?" Rolan grunted in distrust to the red head's method of finding out the outcome. She glowered at him and retorted back a harsh taunt.

And just like that, the elven man was suddenly kicked out of the conversation. Elaine and Rolan had begun arguing with each other once more. On the side, Sibil was trying to cease their war. Rivera sighed. '… We're you always being ignored like this…?'

'Back then, everyone got used to it when it was these two fighting each other…'

'These two?'

The vanquisher chuckled lightly. 'Actually, it's quite normal to get suddenly sucked into their conversation and then suddenly kicked out. Ronan and Elesis was quite a pair, you see. They argued at almost everything, but when it matters, they can actually work together like gears in a clock.'

Rivera nodded lightly, returning his gaze to the outside world. His hands moved by themselves, grabbing the fries and stuffing his mouth slowly. How nice, to know that these people could be this close. He wondered if Ryan was a person who worked well in a team. Because as a loner for years, Rivera hadn't really had a good background for working with others.

Even in this modern era, despite being less green and more technological, people are still working together. At the far end of the street, he saw construction workers were cooperating together to create a building. Then on the other side, he could see a group of kids helping each other to cross over a simple yet large mud puddle. Then there was a couple with hands linked, probably working together to keep the relationship working….

"!-" *Hack* *Hack*

"Pfft… That's what happens when you take in too much food, Rivera…" Elaine snorted, watching the orange haired choke on his fries. Sibil, beside her, had helpfully offered him his drink. Rolan merely sighed.

"I.. Did not choke because I ate too much…!" He grumbled sluggishly before drinking another large gulp of carbonated drink that was given to him. "I'm just shocked…."

"Shocked..?"

Rivera nodded enthusiastically, pointing towards the restaurant window. The outside world was busy and thriving with life. Then all of a sudden, a distinctive blond caught Elaine's eyes. At the same time, both pair of light and dark blue eyes widen as they saw a familiar violet head.

Linking their arms together tightly, laughing with each other with bright smiles were Riku and the treasurer of the South Noire High. A shiver ran down each and every character, excluding Rivera, at the sight of the couple.

"Someone actually tamed the devil woman…." Rolan muttered.

"I feel sorry for her for ending up with him…" Elaine shook her head in dismay. Yet something else had aroused the interest of the Grand Chase vessels. As they peered closer to Riku's limb, it was clear to see a white snake like tattoo, entwined around from wrist to shoulder.

"Now how did I miss that…" Rivera muttered in surprised. He had been with the man since his first year of university life, yet never did he see such a print on his arm, finely detailed in every aspect of art. Then again, he never did pay attention to the man much. Riku had always disturbed him one way or another to the point it made him subconsciously ignore his existence.

"... You two had been friends and you've never seen that tattoo?!"

That comment had stabbed him in his gut. Riku had, despite being an asshole and a perverted jerk, always been there to look out for him. And Rivera had left him and his support unnoticed.

"I think that isn't the case, Elaine…" Darkly, the white haired beauty murmured. "That looks like a seal…"

'Now that she mentions it, the snake does look familiar. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before….' Elesis inside added to the guardian comment. The red haired teen nodded and repeated the savior's words for the rest to hear.

'Oh Gaia… No… Way…' Ryan croaked, leaving a twisted feeling inside of the orange haired.

'Ryan…? What it is…?'

"Familiar? Well, if Elesis can't recognize him then it can't be someone from the Grand Chase, right?" Bluntly, the teacher stated. Though, he didn't expect the red haired high school girl to have darkened her expression immediately, tensing her whole body. "Miss Sieghart…?"

"Oh crap…" She cursed, after hearing the words of the savior in her mind. At the same moment, Rivera had tensed up as well.

"Hell… It's Rukkha…"

**[Chapter 3 - End]**

* * *

Siiiigh... I'm done with Chapter 3 =D  
Winter break's just around the corner so I'm having a bit more free time... (I can do it!)

So um... Apparently, Elaine knows how to make words bold in text messages... Wow... =D She's so magical and special~!  
A Recessive gene is like... A trait you rarely see unless both parents have it... That kind of thing... I actually hate bio... So um... Wiki it if you're interested in it...  
Rolan used to tutor Rivera cause apparently if you want to have a science major, even if it's something like bio, you need a lot of points... =w=" Screw it, that's why I don't take it. Imma just gonna be some normal teacher somewhere, teaching anime and games and shit to kids =3

The only reason Elesis believed that Ryan had been woken up is because apparently, when people say stargazer, they usually think that it's either a song, or a job or some sort. And only someone who's a nature loving freak (no offense to other people out there, especially when I call myself a cat loving freak) would mention the fact that a stargazer can also be a type of hybrid lily. They're really pretty, having white, red and pink-ish petals with a beautiful smell and even has an awesome meaning... Devotion... Or something like that... Hell, I only know this cause cats are allergic to them... Being a feline-philia and all... =3

Bwahahaha... I'm just going to... You know... go sleep or something...Zzzz... Oh wait... I can just scream in anger cause them kog gonna put Lime in NAGC and not finish designing Zero's third job~ =D WHYYYYYYYYYY?!

btw... Yes Prince, the story changed slightly. And yes, Haruka, I'm actually a tad lazy too change the arrangement.. I got attached to it... ^^"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 : Drinking Can Awaken Your True Self**

Rukkha was a divine tree in the Forest of Life, ruling over with his reptilian beasts as a guardian. On the other hand, Gaia lived in the same forest peacefully, as the goddess of nature, life and death. They were, what you could call, happy neighbors of a blissful community. But when the ascension god aimed to rule over, Gaia had tried to seal her powers by merging with Rukkha. Though, all her effort had been wasted as the corruption of the ascension god reached the tree.

"And so… Does it make Riku an evil person…?" The orange haired stared blankly in the stars, searching for the answers in the midst of the deep night sky. The man was, yes, an annoying jerk, but there were no hidden meaning behind it. All this time, he had been nothing but a friend. Unless… Could it all be an act to cover his true intentions?

"We can't tell for sure… Rukkha _was_ corrupted by the powers of the Ascension God. There's no telling whether he was evil or not…" He heard a slightly squeakier version of his voice speak. Rivera didn't need to look up to know that it was the Vanquisher, standing next to him. The man was gazing to the same sky with a deep thoughtful expression as well. "But… He's still a Divine tree's reincarnation. Which could mean that there's a greater possibility that he sits on our side."

"… Yeah…" Rivera nodded with less enthusiasm. It worried the Vanquisher. No one would love to know that someone close was, in reality, an enemy. And the feeling of betrayal would be devastating. Yet Ryan blinked when he saw emerald eyes slowly disappearing, followed by a soft hum.

_'When all you got to keep is strong,__ move along, move along like I know you do. And even when your hope is gone, move along, move along just to make it through. Move along…'_

Whether it was an old philosophy he had just remembered, or an actual lyric of a song, Ryan shrugged at the sidelines. The least he could understand was the lyrics. And he knew that the student would be alright.

* * *

'Why me…?' He stared at the dull ceiling, then to his fingers that reached out to them. Now, how could these hands he possessed, do anything more? They were ordinary hands of an ordinary person. Rolan sighed.

Sure, he could understand the fact that the soul that resides inside of him was a knight. He knew that somewhere on the timeline of Bermessiah, his family was full of them. Now, they were just normal honest-paid regular people, much like himself. Though there's the exceptional cousin on the family tree who's always the black sheep, but he didn't care about that now.

Rolan wanted to know. Why him? Why was he chosen of all people? Weren't there other candidates who could do better than him? Weren't there others who excelled more than what he had just achieved? He was but a normal everyday high school history teacher. And he was expected to do something out of the ordinary. Something anyone would call legendary.

The man blinked away from his hands once he heard a snore growing louder next to him. Taking a brief glance, he saw that the orange haired student of his was comfortably snoozing away on his makeshift bed, made up of extra cushions and pillows they could find in the teacher's apartment. Rivera groaned in satisfaction as he shifted onto his side, curling up like a comfortable little puppy.

Rivera was there in his bedroom as an act of security. He had recently released the ancient hero, Ryan the Vanquisher. If trouble came, the vanquisher could just release himself and protect the both of them. Though the teacher has yet to believe this, especially when he and Elaine had argued about the proof that determines whether the vanquisher was really awakened, especially with reasoning like knowing what a stargazer was. 'I mean… Rivera's a freaking botany student! Of course he knows what a stargazer would be…'

(For anyone's information the blue haired teacher thought such despite not even knowing what a stargazer really is.)

In the end, Rolan sighed heavily. '… I still don't get it…'

* * *

That morning, Rivera woke up with a deliriously delicious scent that poured into his noses. His body merely moved by its own instincts towards the source of the wondrous smell. He didn't even think that the teacher could actually make such mouthwatering food. Then again, the man did live by himself.

"Eh?" He ceased the thought of the teacher living alone when the sight of food and a note on the table finally came to his vision.

"Oh… My sister dropped by last night…" From behind, the teacher was fixing the buttons of his shirt and walking towards the dishes left on the table. Without etiquettes, he plucked off a piece and plopped it in his mouth. A short second later, Rolan was coughing violently, spitting out what he had just eaten.

"Rolan! What's-" The older man had raised his hand to halt the other.

"As usual… She can only make the food smell and look good…" Rolan swung open some cabinets and rummaged. "Honestly… I don't care if she becomes some famed leader of a gang or something. The least she could do is spare me the trouble of stomaching her tasteless food…"

"… Rolan, you have a sister?" Awkwardly, the other questioned, still gazing his eyes on the food prepared. He was still in disbelief that such good looking food could really be so terrible.

"Yeah. And it's good if you don't get involved with her unless she mentions anything. No further question, please." The man muttered solemnly as he snatched out a few bottles of spices out. "Guess adding a bit of these would fix the dish…"

Rivera watched the man do his magic on the dishes as he sat at the dining table. At first, the orange haired elf thought of how this sister of his actually did this, especially when they were in the apartment the whole night? Then again, she of all people should have a spare key or something. Though there was also the fact that she knew that there were two people present. 'I mean… There's an extra dish there…'

'You did leave your shoes at the front of the entrance, right?' Ryan commented, solving that part of the puzzle. Another thing that disturbed the man was when the woman came in this place. When the two came, it was very late. And they woke up pretty early. The soul inside groaned in thought. 'Rolan did say something like her being a famed leader of a gang or something…'

The student shivered at the thought of that. He heard of rumors related to that; There were yakuzas, mobsters, mafias roaming in the darker streets of Kanavan and wars between them were very frequent, especially in the more corrupted areas. He had once passed through a street for a shortcut, and ended up feeling scarred after nearly getting slashed by the throat because he was nearly mistaken as one of the members.

At the same, he was puzzled. Why on earth was a woman of a simple honest family end up being a part of that world? Well, there was the possibility of being the black sheep. But then… She did make breakfast… Wasn't that a good big sister? (Ignoring her lack of cooking level, of course).

"Hey. Better start eating. We'll be meeting up with Ms. Sieghart and Ms. Hastern."

"Y-yeah."

* * *

The front door then shut lightly, with as well, the sound of locks. At the same time, another room's locks opened up as well. A woman popped her head out, purple locks followed, and scanned the whole apartment. When she was sure it was lack of life, she skipped out of her room.

No one would ever suspect that an infamous captain in the underworld loved prancing about alone in her younger brother's apartment in cute frilly pajamas. She rushed towards the fridge and rummaged for any sweet treats that may be hidden deep inside the frozen container. Sure enough, there was some pudding. Without a care that it was the last one there and it was her younger brother's favorite flavor, she took it to satisfy herself.

Actually, who was she in the first place? She was Kamille Erudon. A drop out at Noire High after being involved with the local Yakuza groups, then a leading figure in the network of connections under the table, then a capo of one of the most dangerous mafia groups of the underworld; she was obviously the black sheep of the Erudon family. Despite that, her younger brother, Rolan, was always there to back her up. "… Lil bro's too good for his own safety… Oh well. At least I have pudding."

Kamille went towards the couch and landed lazily on it. She reached for the remote and soon enough, she was browsing through the channels on the television. But one thing was on her mind, and it was the orange haired man who had spent the night at this apartment (As the older sister, she felt the need to see who was this person who had stayed over. A little peek into her little brother's room wouldn't hurt anyone.)

'I wonder if little brother would let me have him as my young lover,' she cheekily chuckled inside of her, patting the remote controller on to the couch and taking a spoonful of pudding. But seriously thinking, she wondered when the man had finally done it.

Rolan actually had a friend over his place. Scratch that. He had a real friend.

She giggled to herself. Kamille and Rolan were close siblings, despite being so different in every perspective. In a sense, you could say they were the exact opposites. She was the rebellious, delinquent one and he was the obedient, respectable one. And because of that, she felt guilty.

She was the aggressive and dominant one since young, and because of that, she had involuntarily pulled down her little brother's self confidence in himself. 'It even made him feel so sorry about himself, he didn't really socialize much… I'm such a jerk~…' But Kamille smiled as she savored the sweet delicacy. 'Ah well… If he realizes he's better that what he is now, then I'll even kiss each and every one of my subordinates!'

"GA-!" *Hack* *Hack*

Kamille choked onto her meal, with the news had suddenly popped up from nowhere on the television and broadcasted a shocking news.

_'… was assassinated from his hospital bed of North Kavanan Hospital. The Leader of the Silver Rose group had…'_

CRACK

Her crimson eyes blinked to the sudden sound of something crushed. When she looked down, Kamille saw that the metal spoon she had been possessing had just snapped. She sighed to her lack of management of her anger. But how could she just keep her cool when she just heard that her boss had just been killed…

"Arrgh… One trouble after another…"

* * *

On that Saturday morning, three pair of eyes stared at one red head. All of which were totally blank.

"So? No go?"

"Of course it's a no!" Rolan shouted back at her. "You expect us to just confront him and ask if he's Rukkha and if he was evil?! That's already blowing our cover!"

"Well, it worked so far with everything else." Elaine bluntly told them. She then described how Naoto seemed to have spilled everything, but was argued with the fact that it could be due to the intense situation. She then mentioned about her straightforwardness towards Rivera, Sibil and Rolan and well, won the debate.

_'So far away we wait for the day! For the lives all so wasted and gone! We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days. Through the fire and the flames we carry on!'_

The loud and unexpected song that was played startled the group, having Rivera the most flustered as it was his ringtone. He immediately launched for his phone and smashed the answer button, without even checking who was calling as reaction. "H-Hello?!"

_"Yo, Rivera. It's Riku. I've got something awesome to share to ya!"_

"Speak of the Lord of Hell…" The orange haired dryly laughed. "I wanted to talk to you too, Riku…" Just the mentioning of the blond's name sent everyone to their guard. He then switched the call to loudspeaker mode for the rest to hear. "So… Um… What did you want to say?"

_"Well… Remember those two chicks that we were supposed to meet up but you bailed out cause you went and hung out with that kid like a lolicon?"_

"I am not a lolicon!" Rivera screamed back in irk. After bursting out, he desperately recovered his composure. The rest seemed to feel amused at this and had frantically tried to keep their laughter. The emerald eyes glared at them for silence before he continued to speak. "Well, what about them?"

_"One of the girl is interested in me. Wait, I told you that… Anyways… She's got some girlfriends who are lonely. If you've got some buddies, let's have fun at this party they're inviting me in."_

"Again with the girls…?!" He growled in irk, only to stop when Elaine nudged him and pointed to Rolan. It took him a few heartbeats to realize what she wanted to tell him. "… I guess I'll go… I have a friend anyways…"

_"Awesome, dude! I'll text you where we're gonna meet then!"_

With that, their conversation just cut off. The student just stared at his phone blankly before receiving a text message just seconds later.

"Meeting's later at some bar just at the edge of South Kanavan Park…" He muttered after reading the message. Green eyes looked up with uncertainty. "Are you sure we should just… Confront him out of the blue?"

"You guys are going to a bar, no?" Sibil pointed out. "Get him some drinks and when he's drunk enough, he might spill something." After saying so, she felt awkward when everyone looked at her suspiciously. "W-what?!"

"Sibil… We're never going to drink with you…"

* * *

A roundhouse kick sent the last attacker flying off to the end of the ally. She huffed in her might before the many men that fell before her. Kamille growled in anger. "To Hell with this… First Scarlet Cross picks a fight with us. Then the Crypt Raiders butt in on us when we're weak… Which Figlio di Puttana is going to mess with us now?!"

"Sollera, looks like the rest of them just ran with tails between their legs…" A younger man had walked up to her, fists coated with blood. He was wearing that strange earring that was shaped of a circular blade and she knew that only one person wore it and it was her subordinate. But she couldn't see his eyes, especially when he was looking away from her. A hand reached out to his head.

"Are you still grieving about the Don?" She smiled at him. He was one of the newest members of their group, Silver Rose, as a recommendation by a former captain, and had rose up the ranks faster than anyone had imagined and got himself the position of being one of her closest men. In the process, he became pretty attached to their don. Actually, everyone looked up to the Don. The man wasn't only their superior; he was a father figure to them all.

"Sollera.. I am…" He cringed back, "It was my fault for leaving my post unattended when the negotiation were happening. I should have come earlier and-" He instantly stopped when his superior got her guard up. "Sollera…?"

"Why the Hell is my brother in these parts..?" Kamille spat to the sight of long azure hair, tied up just fashionably well. Beside her brother, was that same orange haired man she thought would be lovely if he was hers.

"I didn't know that he was part of our group…." The subordinate peeped in curiosity. Kamille shook her head.

"My real brother. Not a fratello of the Silver Rose." She commented, eyeing on them closely. It wasn't a surprise that he had accidentally called Rolan a brother of their group. They called themselves a family and stick together like one. It became natural to call each other a kin. Though most of the times, Kamille calls the others by fratello or solera so it was a little weird that her subordinate had assumed of which. Then again, he was still new to the lexicon of their world. She noted that she'll have to teach him the basic dictionary of the mafia world.

But back to the main point, the woman was dangerously glaring at that friend of her brother's. She wouldn't mind if Rolan had a friend or two in his life. Hell, he deserved more than the number she had in mind! The only thing was that she wouldn't mind killing them if they were a bad influence on him.

And bringing Rolan to a darker district of Kanavan was already bad influence. Even if the person was that cute orange haired young man who she still thinks should be hers. Rage just poured out of the woman.

"Errr…. Sollera…?" Her red eyes blinked to her subordinate's voice. "Do you… Happen to have a brother complex then?"

"… My dear fratello. Why don't you go back to the branch headquarters and report that we've finished beating up rats that are trying to take our territory? And tell them I'm staying here for a drink…"

"Y-yes.." After receiving the orders accompanied with a threatening death glare, he dashed off hastily, leaving Kamille alone. The woman, as quickly as she could, trailed after her brother and friend.

* * *

"What the hell is this…" Rolan dryly commented as he stared to the neon lights in discomfort. Rivera patted him from the back.

"I understand, Rolan…" The other groaned in reluctance as his other hand reached down into his pockets and towards his phone. Then his fingers just fiddled automatically on his phone without him looking.

_"Yes? Riku speaking. Dude, are you here already?"_

Rivera inhaled a mouthful of air. "… WHAT IN BLOODY SAMSARA IS THIS SHIT?! WHY IS THE FREAKING MEETING POINT A FREAKING STRIP JOINT?! THIS ISN'T A CAFÉ!"

_"Oh, you're outside already?! Hold on, hold on. Let me go outside."_

"To Hell with this shit, I ain't going in!" The student bellowed back as he mashed the red button. "I knew turning into this street already smelled trouble…"

'So… What's a strip joint?' Inside, Ryan questioned ignorantly. Immediately he ceased to question further when the student explained it was a place where the perverted things happen. 'W-why in Aernas is such a place made?!'

Not knowing the answer, Rivera repeated the question for his teacher to answer, expecting him to groan as well. Yet Rolan sighed. "Well… You could say this is one of the harsh realities that the current world is facing through. When one can't survive in the lighter world, they fall into the darker world… Though many will probably see this as an act to satisfy desires, not all are actually like that… Some are actually _that_ desperate to do anything to survive and support others…"

"Woah… That's really deep…" Rivera muttered in awe, but the older man merely shook his head.

"It's just that I kind of understand a bit of all this… And I just want to do what's right and change this system. But with what I have now, there's no way I can do something so drastic." He then made a light chuckle. "I guess that's why I became a teacher… Instead of changing it, I thought I could try and prevent more people from falling into this world by educating the present generation…"

"… That really sounds like what Ronan would say, you know… He would definitely do everything in his power to do what's just. It's like it's his nature." Blue eyes blinked to the difference in tone of the student. When he took a glance, he saw Rivera, but at the same, another person. Was it Ryan? "I'm glad that he lies sleeping inside of someone who's worthy of him… I know I am…"

"You know you are what?" Another voice had appeared and this time, it came from a fashionable blond who was smiling at them. Beside him were three girls, two of which were very clear to see that they were twins, who were pressing themselves on him, flirting so openly. Though, one of them flinched at the sight of the teacher, and it was the financial officer of the school Rolan worked in. Rolan blinked back awkwardly as well. He was actually seeing her in a whole new light (still in a not-so-good way, though).

"None of your business, Riku." Suddenly, the cheery aura of the university student returned and replied to the blond. "Sides, with the girls sticking so close to you like that, I don't see why we're both needed."

"Actually, I don't see that as a reason now, hot stuff~" One of the purple hair twin had ripped herself off the blond and had immediately attached herself on to Rivera. The other did the same, but with Rolan, creating an awfully weird situation for the teacher.

"Erm… W-well…"

"Shall we go to another place? Since you guys can't handle the heat in that joint." Riku teased as he automatically proclaimed himself leader and lead the party. As much as the orange haired wanted to rebel against what he said, it was the sad pathetic truth.

"Aww… I guess shy boys every once in a while is kind of refreshing. Teehee~" A twin had commented happily, which had indirectly stabbed the guts of both teacher and student.

Meanwhile from afar, the only thing that a certain big sister could feel was outraged that her little brother would actually do something as outrageous as a blind date, and the girls were from that dirty old strip club for lord's sake! Wasn't he a smart little brother who knew which people to associate with?! The least he could do was to go with the girls from any other clubs. Well, mainly because she knew that that place didn't belong to her group but another powerful association. If it were under her watch, she can just rip apart any girl (or in certain cases, guy) who'd dare to tear her little brother's heart.

"….." Kamille groaned as she rethinks her thoughts. Did she really have a brother complex…? "Screw that." The woman snorted, dashing off after the group of people, only to click her tongue in anger. "Damn it! I lost them!"

* * *

"Another rouuuuuuuund~" Riku happily declared, lifting his mug into the air cheerfully and waving it about recklessly. It took the strength of both men from both sides to keep him from flailing his glass about.

"Riku! Stop flailing your arms about! You're-! You're going to vomit, aren't you?!" Rivera yelled, dragging the man away from the table of jolly drinking people and quickly forcing the blond out of the bar. Wild and loud laughter came from the four as they watched the two disappear from their sight.

SPLAT.

"Ah, that's just gross, man…." The orange haired snarled in disgust at what seemed like Riku's dinner and probably lunch as well. "Look, aren't you a little too tipsy?"

In three glasses, Riku had turned completely red, lost all normal senses, and started to see delusions of flying pixies everywhere who were trying to kill him. Basically, he was drunk. The blond did a simple jig and turned to his friend. "Now why do you think I'm fine? I feel perfectly drunk!"

"Of course, you're drunk..." He grunted, catching a clumsy fall and setting the man back on his temporarily stable two feet. He had always assumed that the man had a high tolerance for alcohol. But that image just shattered after seeing how drunk the man seemed now. Rivera groaned. "I think you should definitely go home."

"NO!" Instantly, Ruki jolted into proper shape. "I haven't gotten laid yet! I ain't going home!" The orange haired couldn't help but land a punch on him.

"Idiot! It's that attitude that's keeping you from sticking with one woman!" He growled, feasting his eyes on the pained expression of the blond. He deserved it, especially when he's treating girls as objects that satisfy his sexual desires. "Dear Gaia… You're hopeless, you know…"

"Oh! I know who Gaia is!" The drunktard hiccupped happily to the name (but Rivera assumed he was just happy to hear another woman's name). "She's that pretty lady you worship, riiiiiiiight? No wonder I've never seen you date any other girl~!"

"Yes, yes. I'm living my virgin life all for her." The student replied sarcastically before he gave another smack on the head. But the blond didn't seem unaffected by that punch as he stayed in his dazed, tipsy condition.

"And what a coincidence! I have a tattoo of that snake guy who lives in her forest!" The instant he mentioned that, Rivera tensed, attention averted to only to the blond. Rolling up his sleeve, he showed a smudged picture of what seemed like white lines now. "Awwww….. My little sister went to the trouble of painting it on me and now it's fading away…."

"Paint…?" He questioned. Then he pushed himself to ask. "Not… A seal?"

"Paint~! My little adorable sister loves to paint, you know!" Riku squealed happily. "She's such a wonderful, adorable, beautiful, magical, fantastical little girl~!" Quickly, he grabs his wallet and pulls out a small passport picture and shoves it at the orange haired man. "SEE! SEE HER GLORIOUSNESS?! I LOVE MY LITTLE SISTER SO MUCH!"

Rivera couldn't help but take a glance. On the small square photo was a just the most beautiful, innocent, pure little…

'That is a dog… Right?' Ryan muttered inside of him.

'Yes…. Definitely is…. He's really drunk….' Sighed the student as he handed over the picture back to his friend. It was annoying enough to see the guy kissing it and hugging it tightly. '… Does he really look like a guy who knows about that world…?'

'I'm beginning to think otherwise as well… He said it was paint, right? So that's why you didn't notice it earlier…' The vanquisher groaned. 'But that means his sister might…'

Rivera nodded in agreement. He could never forget how detailed and fine the painting was, to the point it just looked so real. No normal person in that could replicate such art so easily.

CRASH

"!" Green eyes blinked in surprise to see that the blond finally collapsed, sleeping soundly on the ground. "I think it's time to bring him home…."

"Did Riku fall as well?" A female voice happened to appear from behind. When he glanced back, that financial officer had calmly approached him. Behind her, Rolan was leaning onto the twin girls. And he looked dead drunk. "Oh, don't worry. We stopped drinking after our second round. Something like safety measures for us girls who live in these parts of the city."

"I see…" Rivera grunted, picking up the blond by his shoulder. Riku seemed fairly alright, stumbling around, though his senses had shut down. "I guess I'll carry them home. Sorry we weren't that entertaining, girls."

"No… Not at all…" The woman smiled in an awfully sinful way that sent shivers running down the student's spine. "You see… This is all very advantageous to us… _Ryan_…"

Something clicked in the student's system in the most horrid way. How did the woman know the Vanquisher's name? And how did she know it was inside him?! Now that he thought about it, she shouted Elesis' name instead of Elaine's the day before when she was patrolling the school's interior…

'Rivera! Let me take over your b-!'

BAM

Ryan's shouts seem to fade away as the student began to see black. The ground gradually got closer to his disappearing sights.

He swore the last he saw was a purple haired, bird like creature, laughing maniacally above him.

* * *

Slowly, fading into his vision, was once again that beautiful blue sky. Rolan pushed himself up and before him, was again, the same glorious city. He recalled moments before, he was drinking with a couple of sexy ladies (yet he admits they weren't his type at all. Frankly speaking, he rather the gentle and kind girls). Did he get himself knocked out? He was sure he had become a heavy drinker after getting pulled into a drinking contest with his sister, with each round he was getting more tolerant of the alcohol.

"Then again… The drinks served were a little different…." He muttered, trying to recollect more blurred memories. Rolan remembered that Riku had the sudden urge to throw up so his classmate had dragged him out, leaving him alone with the girls at the table. Then one of them said the most peculiar things.

_"So… Ronan… Aren't you disappointed that you're new self is a normal, boring old history teacher?"_

He remembered it was that financial officer who asked him that, grinning slyly at him. A grim feeling had formed itself inside of him when she had said that. He scratched his arms, trying to rid of an irritating sensation on them. "Then the twins tightened their grips on me…"

_"Hey, Ronan… Why don't you sleep a little longer?"_

Rolan blinked. His coworker had called him Ronan. He thought that she might have accidentally said it wrongly. 'I mean, there's only one letter difference in our names… Actually….' When Elaine had confronted him about this whole mess, it was once but, she had called him Ronan instead. Well, that was explainable cause she had Elesis inside her and she knew about the Grand Chase and…

Was it possible that his college knew about the Grand Chase as well? Doesn't that mean his life was in danger?!

The blue haired teacher immediately stood and scanned around the area. When he saw a standing pole, he approached it and instantly swung his head towards the thing. "OOOWCH!"

Figures. Forcing himself awake didn't work. In never worked, especially when it was this particular dream he was in. Then Rolan thought of the awakenings that Elaine, Sibil and Rivera had spoken of. He shook his head; thinking negatively. "Am I really worthy of this? She was right… I'm just a normal, boring," he skipped the word 'old', "history teacher…"

_'Leave everything that clouded your vision and go. Stride forth; take back your title, your people.'_

That was part of a song that played in his mind when he stood in that realm every time he closed his eyes and breathed the warm air. And it was right. Who cared if he wasn't great enough? He was the only one who could awaken Ronan and that was that. Besides, Ryan (he hoped he wasn't delusional when he saw the vanquisher in the student), had said what he does is what the abyss knight would and that was enough.

Besides, he was this desperate to help his friend. If that woman happened to be some enemy, then he would be in trouble, even if he had awakened Ryan. There was still Riku whose identity as Rukkha is still yet to be confirmed.

When he blinked his eyes open, a light blue shimmer had showered over him.

_'Fret not when the Abyss Knight reveals himself in battle,  
He, the Captain of the Royal Guards of Kanavan, stands  
As the shield that protects us, he wields the mighty Tyrfing  
And as a leader, he jousts us a path to glorious victory,  
With his draconic steed, he shall soar in the skies,  
Watching over his majestic kingdom courageously.'_

"Abyss Knight… Captain of the Royal Guards… Ronan Erudon! Please grant me your strength!" He screamed at the top of his lungs with the city as his witness. Eyes gazed at him from below. All of which were expecting something from him. At first, the teacher flinched to the sudden gaze, but then he came to realize that they were just watching him, hoping that he'd be their leader who would guide them, protect them.

"Then so be it, I shall serve the world's righteousness with you." A noble speech voiced next to him. Rolan jolted back to see a mirror image of himself. But this man was clothed in full white and blue armor and in his hand was a distinctively beautiful sword (Rolan couldn't ignore the fact that he was also just a mere centimeter shorter, but if he mentioned anything like that it felt like insulting himself as well). Azure eyes looked straight at his own with determination. "As you said, I am Ronan Erudon, the Captain of the Royal Guards of Kanavan and the Abyss Knight of the Grand Chase."

Now, the first thing that surprised the man was his splitting image. The second thing that surprised him was the fact the ancient hero had kneeled down to him. "W-wha?!"

"I'm in debt that you've finally awakened me." The blue knight looked up, a firm smile on his face. "I couldn't hope for a better vessel for my soul."

"Er… Thanks?" Rolan answered meekly, blushing slightly. Then he remembered why he had awakened the abyss knight. "Ronan! Rivera and Ryan are in trouble! We have to get out of this dream world and help them!"

"Very well!" He got up. Ronan created an azure spark in his hands in front of the teacher.

"I-is that magic?!" The teacher couldn't help but yelp in awe at the sight of the blue powers of the abyss knight. As its brightness illuminated his world, he felt the glorious warmth that accompanied it.

"Yeah… It is…"

* * *

Baton clashed with claws, creating the ringing sensation of battle. The orange haired elf swung the pole, with the intention to knock of the bird's wings but to no avail as their feathers was too thick for him to even hack through. At the sound of a screech, he ducked to a swooping creature who's talons had nearly cut him.

"Shit…!" He cursed, nearly losing his balance. He didn't dare to look down, especially being at the edge of the top of a very, very tall building. Ryan swore that if he will be traumatized of heights after this fight. But he rather be balancing at that point than to get himself carried off by those infernal creatures and dropped thousands of feet from the ground.

It was just mere luck that he was able to switch with the unconscious Rivera at the very last moment. The orange haired, still unaccustomed to the difference in body structures, scrambled up and tacked the feathered, purple haired creature, she who had revealed herself as the Harpy Queen once she threw a punch back and glowered at him with the same disgusted stare she always had on the Grand Chase.

The two had locked on to a violent hand to hand fight before the Queen had finished forming her wings. Once her transformation completed, she soared up, dragging the vanquisher as well. She planned to just throw him off at a height but Ryan had managed to grab onto a ledge and had been fighting from there since. Due to the lack of weapons in sight, he had no other choice but to grab a random pole lying about to use as a means to protect himself.

"RAAAAAAA!" Ryan struck an incoming harpy down, and then slashed another. They fell from his sights and towards the ground underneath. The Harpy Queen had chosen not come alone, so she had brought her friends in the battle, or well known as the twins earlier on whom had tried to latch themselves on both Rolan and Rivera. 'They were relatively easy as they were mere henchmen… The problem is, that annoying Queen…'

Annoying because she stayed high in the air, only to glide down with her talons ready to claw out his (well, to be specific, Rivera's) face. In other words, she was toying with her prey by staying far up so she was untouchable and to trouble him by swooping down and watching him suffer by desperately keeping his balance.

"Scared that you'll fall with them as well with a mere pole?!" He yowled to the harpy, challenging her to try and strike him. The queen had laughed at his present state that still dared to test her.

"You elves had always been a stupid race. Allying with the humans who actually backstabbed your kind and wiped out your existence! I see nothing surprising with this idiotic act." She mocked, snickering sinisterly as well. "Alright, I'll end your life once and for all so your kind would stop being so stupid."

In an instant, she dived towards him. Ryan, unprepared to her increase in speed, merely lunged to the side. But his leg was caught on to the sharp nail of the beast that he was shoved off the building. Noticing this, the harpy giggled, flicking him towards the ground and this time she was careful to throw him far from any structures where he could grab on to and potentially live.

Meanwhile, the elf had every memory flashed at his very eyes; from the moment he was born, to when he met the Grand Chase, to when they adventured together and had their ups and downs moments, to when they fought-

VOOSH

"R-Ronan?!" The elf screamed in the air resistance, catching the glimpse of a huge blue flying creature soaring past him from the ground with a man on board its back.

"Ryan?!" He shouted back, heeling the dragon stead of his. It roared to the sudden stop and turned around, diving down towards the falling elf. "Don't worry! I'll save you!"

"Watch out!" He yowled back, only to witness the Harpy Queen zoomed towards them and grabbed the dragon by its flank, preventing it from chasing the orange haired. Occupied with this, the reptile was forced to retaliate by snapping its jaws at the bird, forgetting the existence of his master's friend.

"Ryan! Tch! Damn it!" The blue haired man growled as he desperately held onto the rough ride he was going through due to the constant bucking of the dragon. As much as he could, he aimed his hand towards the harpy. "Raising Thrust!"

A sudden energy blast shot out from the palm of his hands towards the feathered beast. Noticing this, she screamed in anger and gave up on keeping the dragon, dodging away from the shot. The freedom was conquered immediately as the reptile instantly focused downwards.

One problem though. There was nothing to save.

Rivera's body had simply disappeared.

"Where-?!"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAA!" A deafening roar of another beast boomed into his ears. Turning around, he saw what seemed like a smaller red, bulky dragon, charging upwards. And just riding on its shoulders, was a white clad man with a distinctive orange and black cape.

"FACE MY BLOODY WRATH, FLYING BITCH!" He bellowed, "LORD OF VALHALLA!"

"Magus Dan!" Ronan gaped in surprise as he had nearly lost hope for the safety of the vanquisher and his vessel. With an increasing confidence, he pulled the ropes on his own steed. Ronan, as well, charged towards the Harpy Queen at full throttle, ready to summon his ethereal rune blades. "Tornado Stinger!"

* * *

He found himself standing on a building, facing another city. The buildings, to him, were like outpost towers, made of concrete and towering over the earth below. Heck, he couldn't even see the ground- it was too far down. Yet he saw the familiar sky that watched over him. It was the same one that had been gazing down his city.

"So this is present Kanavan…" He muttered to himself, gazing at the whole city. Tiny glimpse of his own Kanavan appeared in his vision as he observed the modern metropolitan. But under the night sky, he swore the lights shimmering throughout the city seemed like twinkling stars, much to his favor. "Everything seems strangely nostalgic…"

"So even this kind of district was around back in the old days?" Ryan asked in disgust next to him, crouching and peeping to the ground from the edge. The people down there seemed like tiny ants, yet he could tell that they were walking around in groups, cornering one another, going into hotels.

A chuckle occurred next to the orange haired. "You could say it was small-scale back then. It was easy to suppress the growth of the red-light district. Which was why even you didn't know about its existence." He scratched his neck, gazing downwards. "I guess it was partially my fault because as the Leader of the Royal Guards, I cannot allow my Queen to see even the tiniest bit of corruption in her lands…"

"Did you know? The guy that possesses you is doing nearly the same thing. I could see why you were given to him."

"I know." Ronan grunted. A childish smirk had appeared on his face. "Those who are worthy of my strength should stand at my standards. And Rolan, though incapable of doing much, still fights on for the sake of a better future for Kanavan..."

Ryan couldn't help but stare at him awkwardly. "… That Kanavan obsession of yours never changed…" He got up and walked towards the stairs. "I'll go bring Rivera's body back to his place then… He's still unconscious after getting that blow on the head and- ACK!" Ryan flinched just at the mere touch of the assaulted site of his head. "W-well… See you later, Ronan. And nice to see you again."

"Same here, Ryan." The knight grunted, still watching upon the city he once protected. A meek voice then sounded in himself.

'It is still hard for me to believe that I am the one who gets to possess your soul…' The teacher sighed, watching the same lights the Abyss knight was looking at. He shook his head.

'It's just a phase in your life… You'll get over it.' Ronan bluntly replied. 'It wasn't that easy for me to accept the position as the Captain of the Royal Guards initially. In fact, I had always been worried that I might not be enough for the job. But I saw the reasons the people chose me as their leader and then everything went smoothly.'

'So the reason that I was chosen to be your vessel?'

'Is that the world believes you are capable of doing it. What else?'

And gradually, a heavy burden began to lift itself.

* * *

KNOCK KNOCK

The door was opened ever so hesitantly. Outside, stood a smiling and flustered blond man who waved his thanks to his orange haired friend goodbye before he turned to smile at the person who had opened the door.

"Riku? You're early this time around… And a man actually dropped you off instead of a woman…" A soft gentle tone spoke to him. He merely chortled back.

"Well, he just happened to remember to send me home…" Riku replied back before he let out a hiccup. "Oops… Sorry, I remembered you don't like the smell of booze…"

As he leaned on the wall, he watched the person lock the door. This person was shorter, yet beautiful as her long gold silky hair hung gracefully. She turned to him and looked at him with her light green eyes. "Riku… You're smiling in that funny way…"

"Oh?" The man blinked and then laughed. "Well… Something good happened…"

"And what is it?"

"I watched a really cool fight and saw that... The Vanquisher and the Abyss Knight have been awakened..."

* * *

She pushed herself out to the open space of the garage, freeing her vision from the metal, greasy engines of the car. Feeling a little dizzy, she took a deep breath and relaxed herself. Then she pushed herself up, flinging her wrench towards her tool box.

"Hey. Are you alright?" She blinked without emotions, glancing up to see a black specked woman, looking down back at her, the rest of her face was covered by her long gorgeous white hair. She was also holding a gun. "If you're not, I don't mind you not checking out my gun…"

"I'm alright…" She muttered back, shoving back her blue bangs to have a good look to the firearm. "I'm just having some good dreams lately."

"Good Dreams, eh? Wish I had some for myself as well… Instead, I have a bunch of lousy hot headed subordinates who won't listen to orders… They're a nightmare, you know…" The woman went on and on, so she pretended to listen whilst scanning the gun closely.

Good dreams… Were those the right words to describe what illusion that had been visiting her in these recent nights? She grunted to herself. 'Rather… A better word would be that I'm receiving some warnings from _her_…'

"Were those dreams really good? You're actually smiling and you seldom smile unless you found success in your research…"

She involuntarily reached on to her cheeks and found that there was a slight curve on her lips. A giggle then surprised her friend. "… Not really… It's just that… I'll be meeting some of my old comrades…"

**Chapter 4 - End**

* * *

O yeah! Guess what?! I'm still writing at my slow stupid pace when I'm on winter break and my drawing skills are failing me q-q"

Okay... So it seems Rivera knows Move Along by All-American Rejects and Through Fire and Flames by Dragonforce... They're good songs, if you ask me =D

And yes, Rolan is thankful to Zillia that there is someone siding on him about the stargazer thing.

Rolan has a sister. Whoopee. As said, she's a captain of a mafia group. Oh yes, they're using Italian words there X3 Oh how I love the Italian language... It's so sexy...  
Well, a Don is a title for an honorable man or a boss in the underworld. Fratello means brother. Sorela means sister. And Figlio di Puttana... -3- Let's just say Kamille has a dirty mouth... Despite that, she has a brother complex *gets shot by Kamille*

In any case, I can't help but feel that I made Rolan & Ronan out of character somehow... Well, it's true that I haven't played that guy in weeks so... o-o"

And the rest is pretty simple to follow...

Happy early new years to all then!


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 : We are All Linked with Each Other by a Path**

"Ha~ap!"

CRACK

"…" Black eyes blinked in irk when he woke up from his naps in his favourite park to sleep in. Honestly, he sometimes question why he chose a park of all places to nap in (and to his defense, he wasn't a hobo). "Geez… And the last time was some high pitched singing from some idol wannabe…."

Sitting up, he noticed that the moon was still up there, shining and laughing at the sleep deprived misery he was going through. He glared back at it momentarily, before scanning the area for what could be the cause of the sounds that had awakened him.

"LION'S BARRAGE!"

A bellow echoed throughout the park, followed by a couple of yowls of angst. The man heaved himself off the park bench and sluggishly walked towards it, fists cracked and ready to punch the living daylights out of the people who dared awaken him in his turf.

"DIE!" He saw an iron crowbar was lifted and launched downwards. He had expected a scream of anger, but instead had blood splattered on his face. And clothes. Coming in closer, he smirked at the sight of what laid before him.

A brave red head stood, surrounded in the midst of barbaric fighters around him. He, himself, was coated with blood far reddish than his hair, yet he still stood his ground, in his unique fighting pose, and ready with his fists. His enemies merely growled at him with steel bats and nailed planks and the likes in their arms.

And from the looks of it, the red head didn't seem like he could last longer. Black eyes gleamed happily. "So you are the kids that woke me up from my peaceful nap..."

"Keep out of this, old ma-!"

A sudden punch sent one of them flying across the street. He blew his fist off the momentary pain and smirked at them. "What? Scared to be beaten by an old man? Kids these days… They can only bark but can't bite…"

At the sudden entry of the man, the red head took action and kicked off an equipped steel bat, followed with a slamming roundhouse to knock out one of his enemy. He then proceeded in landing a punch on another who wielded the crowbar. The older man laughed at his enthusiasm to defeat his opponents and slammed his foot on another enemy, giving a firm thrust in the stomach afterwards.

"Ah, you're a fast little devil, aren't you?!" He shouted at the red head, laughing happily to the sight of collapsing men in front of him, only to get an amused grunt in return. Yet he didn't expect an enormous blow of metal from behind.

"W-What?! He's still standing?! No human could-" Retreating away with an iron crowbar, one of the opponents saw the man's face turn to him, blood dripping down his head. Slate grey eyes glowered at him demonically. "D-DEMON!"

"Demon? Naaah…. Call me immortal."

* * *

One week had passed since the Ruby Knight had awakened. And since then, the allies of the Grand Chase gradually increased. At the same, two enemy powers had been successfully removed from the face of Aernas, despite leading to one (not too life threatening but still worrisome) loss.

Yet, after a passing week, everything had seemed like it went back to normal. Elaine was still being the average sports girl who did both football and basketball like a Spartan. Rivera went to his usual self - listening to loud music constantly, and putting up to Riku's awfully weird treatments. Rolan was teaching his classes like the teacher he was, with Sibil approaching him most of the afternoons for club activities. And they have yet to make another group meeting since the incident where they decide Riku's fate.

But in actuality, there was one drastic change that they had found in the dream world.

* * *

"Gyah!" Elaine yelped just when she landed roughly on the ground. She felt a stinging pain on her arms, yet there were no wounds. She groaned. It had been days since she had this kind of training and still, she was unused to the momentary stings she receives in every practice spar.

"You alright?" In front of her, Elesis offered her hand to pull her up (her other hand still held on to a pair of bamboo swords). The red headed student nodded to reply and took her hand, pulling herself up as well. "Today's session was better than yesterday's, you know."

"You think?" She asked. "I still think my reaction time is a little slower."

"Hey, it'll come to you. I mean, you have me as your personal trainer." The savior chuckled, puffing out her chest in might. Elaine couldn't help but smile as well. In all honesty, she was thankful that the woman was personally training her into a, not the best but, good swordsman. It was for the sake of emergencies. As in, if there were any conditions where Elesis couldn't take over, she could fend for herself momentarily.

Besides that, training in the dream world proved to be very advantageous. For starters, pain and tiredness would immediately disappear (though it does not mean that she wouldn't feel any pain or tiredness). This meant that Elesis and Elaine could do endless spars for the sake of training and improving herself.

Another thing was because time seems to slow down in the dream world with Elesis around. And because of that, the innocent high school student would always go up to her senior in a very hyper mood and ask about the Grand Chase's stories every time they stopped for a break.

"… Well.. Guess we can take a break for now…" Elesis muttered, wiping the sweat of her head. She was definitely satisfied that the person she had been chosen to be in was someone who had exceeded her expectations as a warrior. 'Maybe Elaine could even be better than m- Naaaaah…. There is still no way I'd let someone younger than me surpass me.' She smiled proudly to herself before noticing the girl had looked at her with those same expecting red eyes of hers.

"Elesis… Can we continue off on the part where you guys finished beating the Black Fairy?"

"Sure." She spoke lightly, happy to feel a junior looking up to her with innocent respects and naïve-like admirations. She led her towards a bench, just at the side of their sparring field. This sparring field laid next to a small, yet comfortable stronghold and surrounded by a beautiful endless grassy plains. It was where Elaine had first met Elesis. "So... After that, Jin, the fighter, had followed us; we went to look for the reason to why the whole of the Silver Knights were wiped out. And in doing so, we had to pass through King Guang's Fen. I'll never forget that face Ronan made when he freaked out, you know."

"I did not freak out at King Guang's Fen." A foreign voice jolted the two girls. They immediately turned and got surprised at the sight of a pair of blue haired knights, approaching them from the entrance of their stronghold. Elesis at first, was on her guard due to the unexpected voice, but gradually she calmed. But the furrowed brows of hers remained.

"And who invited you people into my land?!" She questioned first, steadily approaching the men defensively. "And how the hell are you people in here?!"

The knights were apparently, Ronan and Rolan, both dressed smartly in white and blue armor. The only way that Elaine could distinguish the both of them was the fact that Rolan's set of armor had a slight modification that she couldn't help but compare to that of a suit that teachers would usually wear.

"See… She'll definitely mock me no matter what. It's like it's built in her system to mock anyone." Ronan had ignored the Savior and informed his partner. Of course it had irritated Elesis. The Abyss Knight had then faced the girls. "It seems that something links us together as the Grand Chase in the dreams as well. I just happen to figure out how to get to your world."

"This is called intruding on my privacy!" Elesis screamed back to the man, unsheathing her Ssangeom. Launching herself towards the blue haired man, she bellowed, "Get out!"

The sudden assault had frightened the teacher, but not the Abyss Knight as he had revealed his tyrfing and blocked himself just in the nick of time. Pushing away the Savior, he predicted that the girl would lunge once more to attack him so he kept his guarded posture. And he was right. Elesis had made another strike immediately after she was thrown away.

As the two powers fought, Rolan scooted himself over towards the area Elaine had been comfortably sitting at. He found himself amused to how the girl had somehow, forgotten the reason of their fight and was completely absorbed to the battle. He also wondered if the student ever mock him like how the savior mocks the abyss knight. But then, there were many to consider. Their age range was far apart so there was always the sense to gain respect on his side. There was the fact that the girl was his student, she had no rights to openly insult him like that. And then another reason was that they weren't so close to even argue so pointlessly, just like the Savior and the Abyss Knight.

Though, truthfully, Rolan felt a little empty. It would be nice to receive teases like that so he could counter back with a better retort which would lead them to a typical, childish fight. 'Oh Lord, did I call myself a masochist?!'

"H-hey, Ms. Sieghart…"

"Rolan, drop the formalities in this world. We're friends now, right?" Elaine spoke, though her eyes were fixated at the fight before her. How was she so straightforward at times? Rolan could never figure it out.

"Ronan had figured out how to visit other Grand Chaser's dreams so… Would you like to see Rivera's place?" The girl continue to ignore to his invitation. Rolan sighed. He knew high schoolers nowadays were hard to get their attention (unless you had good looks or something or the sort). But in Elaine's case, she just seemed more interested in something physically barbaric.

Nevertheless, he didn't regret listening to his current magic mentor, Ronan, mutter in irritation about Elesis. Whilst the man had taught him how to conjure up typical spells for defence and support, he had also rambled about what to watch out of from the other Grand Chasers. Apparently, they enjoyed bullying him…

"Elaine…. If we visit Rivera…" Rolan makes a silent beg for forgiveness. "You can practise your sneak attacks on him and try to land a hit on him and-"

Elaine suddenly perked up with enthusiasm, forgetting the clash between the saviour and the abyss knight. "Let's go!" She smiled happily. The teacher was surprised at how easy this all was, and at the same, felt depressed at how all this seemed. He had a theory in mind that scared him a little. If Elaine's personality is similar to that of the saviour, then it was possible that his personality was near to the abyss knight's…. And that meant that sooner or later, he was going to start having verbal fights with the high school student. The thought of that made him feel sad somehow.

"So… All we need to do is to forge a path towards his place." The man said as he lead the girl outside her fortress. "See that?"

"Where the hell did this road come from?" Elaine muttered, staring strangely to a stoned path from her fortress towards the ends of the grassy plains of her dreams.

"Apparently, this'll lead you to my world." He said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Let's see... All Ronan did was to wish he could see Elesis and a path just created itself. So it should work the same way if we were to visit Ryan's place."

"Then let me try!" She yelped happily, like a child getting shown a new magic trick. "I would love to see Rivera… And try to sneak attack on him and…" A long branch had popped itself from the ground meters away from the cobbled road, followed by vines that reached up and entwined around it. On the ground, these vines slithered away from them, letting smaller plants form themselves nearby. And gradually, the grass of the plains that Elaine ruled over had disappeared into a dusty trek, flanked by miniature trees and flora.

"…. Yes… So typical of a plant lover to have plants everywhere on his path…" Elaine grunted, careful not to thread over the plants as she followed the road. Rolan groaned to her sarcasm and trailed after her.

* * *

The forest trek that they followed had leaded them to a huge mighty forest which lacked of any signs of civilization. It didn't bother either of them. Somehow, they expected something like this to have occurred. It was just the fact that claw marks and territorial-like signs were heavily made everywhere that made them feel very disturbed.

"The idiots don't need to put all these claw signs to show he rules the forest… No one else wants it… Maybe Lire but… Still, No one else…" Elaine grumbled to herself, recalling that the saviour had told her that elves seemed to love peace and nature unconditionally, despite their abilities to become vicious and threatening at their time to fight back.

"Lire….?"

"Elesis told me that she's another Grand Chaser. An elven bowman." The girl informed. She was still looking around and searching for more signs to find out where the heart of the forest would be. That way, sneaking up on Rivera would come to reality. But the silence of the teacher behind her did not help her at all. "Rolan?"

"Hmmm…?"

She stopped dead on her tracks immediately. That grunt was not the grunt she would expect from the teacher. It was low, more dark-like, and frankly spine-chilling. Heavy warm breaths hovered over her murkily. Once she turned around, she screamed.

* * *

"Ryan…? Ryaaaaaaaaaaan?"

"Huh?"

"Dude… You've been spacing out for a while and I've been calling your name for a while now…" Rivera looked down at the shorter look-a-like and patted him gently. "Actually, you've been like this since Ronan's awake… Is there something wrong?"

The vanquisher blinked at him, completely flustered at the discovery of his anxiety. "N-no! I'm alright! There's nothing wrong, really!" He jolted back, stuttering while persuading the other about his well-being. But he knew that the uni student wasn't buying it. Even he himself wouldn't believe such a weak lie. In any case, he's bound to ask the man one way or another. Ryan stared at the man. "Can you recall the fight that happened on the night Ronan came to the world?"

Rivera shook his head. "What? Was there something important that I should have known?"

This time Ryan shook and sighed. "No… It's not really important but in that battle… The Harpy Queen had mentioned that the humans had wiped out the existence of the elves… Is this true..? Was that why you didn't reply to me back when I said something to do with the elves back when the others were talking about Sibil's duties?"

The elf was desperate for an answer, staring at the other dreadfully. Rivera had meant to tell him about this, but there was no such thing as the courage to shatter the elf's hope inside him. Then there was revenge. Would Ryan pursue it if he knew the truth to it all? He groaned reluctantly. "… All of that is true… The elves were forced out of their kingdom and weren't seen in Bermessiah since. I swear, I didn't tell you this cause I was scared you would be in ruins. And you and the humans were once friends, to have vengeance upon them would break you and-"

"Bermessiah?" Ryan interrupted. "Then there shouldn't be a problem."

"Wh-wha…?"

"It is possible that my kin had retreated out of Bermessiah. There is still the kingdom that lies in the far end of Archimedia. And even if that were to be destroyed by the dwarves, we've got some bases and outposts off the border of the Bermessiah…." The vanquisher merely smiled at the confusion of the student. "See… We elves always take precaution of what we do, unlike most humans. So it doesn't really bother me if the elves haven't been seen. It's kind of our nature to hide anyways."

"And what does that mean?!" From behind him, a red head girl yowled at him in anger. She was tied up next to a blue haired man who was repenting. "Are you trying to say I don't take caution?!"

Rivera spat his tongue out. "Well, you didn't take my wolf marks seriously when you entered my territory. It was obvious I'd hunt you both down, especially when you know I'm still learning how to control these transformation."

Ryan snickered to the fight the two were having. Now how could he hate the humans when he got along with them so easily? And he knew that humans were also capable of apologizing for what they have done. He wasn't so angered by the past that the present generation had.

But something of the past still continued to disturb him.

* * *

Ever since the discovery of the paths that licked each other via their dreams, they needed not to converse with each other in the real world unless it was really necessary as they could spend as long as they wanted talking to each other in the dream world. In any case, they all agreed on something.

They could feel that someone had been watching them since the awakening of the abyss knight.

"I don't think he'll be involved with the red light district…" A voice muttered, watching a certain blue haired teacher waving his students goodbye as they left the vicinity of the school. Setting down his binoculars, he sighed. "Solera, do you not trust your brother? Besides, didn't he explain to you on the same night that he had just gone to a blind group date gone wrong? And he had immediately went home…"

_'… Fine. Just leave him be then… You can stop spying on my brother. Report back to headquarters… The commission are deciding who should succeed as the next boss and I need by right hand man now.'_

The other line disconnected abruptly, that it made him sigh. Why did he have to be involved with the nonsense of a pair of siblings? He scratched his nape under his white bangs. "I'll never understand brother complexes…" His blue eyes blinked away from the school and towards his watch. "Guess I'll be home late again…"

He failed to notice that the teacher had suddenly been given a letter by a mysterious man.

* * *

"Here's a drink, kid." A cold press on his cheek jolted him. He retreated away and looked up to see a red can.

"… Cola…?"

"Cause I bought beer for myself only." The other was already drinking his beer, crouching down next to him. "Now give me a bit of that ointment."

He obediently passed it to the black haired man for the cola. His gold eyes couldn't help but take a glace to the man who had just barged into his fight and aided him like it was nothing. And here they were, outside of a convenience store, after cleaning their wounds and buying petty first aid supplies to patch themselves up.

He also couldn't help but feel respect to the older man. He was like a fighting machine, thrashing every time he moved and unwavering every time he was hit. And his stamina was near to endless. The red head admitted he would definitely collapse after that fight. And what did the guys call him? Immortal? He must really have high tolerance for pain…

"What? Is there still blood on my face?"

"N-no! It's just that…" He stuttered immediately, flustered that he had been discovered unconsciously staring at the man. The red head thought of a way to cover up his mistakes quickly. "Thanks for the help just now… But you just messed up my qualifying round."

"Eh?"

"That fight was for me to enter an official street battle…." He groaned, not in irk but disappointment as he rummaged through his pockets and took out an old, torn up and crumpled poster. The older man looked at it calmly as he sipped his beer.

_'Street battle against the top three street fighters of Kanavan! Stand a chance to win the title of the Street Kings of Kanavan as well as cash prizes up to $10,000! Sponsored by….'_

This made the black haired smile. "What if I was part of your team?" The sudden declaration perked the red head, his gold eyes stared at him with a glint of hope. "What do they call you?"

"J-!" He bit his tongue before he let anything out, thinking of a better nickname. "Well… the guys back then always called me the Burning Leo."

"And I'm guessing you yell out 'Lion's barrage' before you continuously smash someone?" The red head fell into embarrassment. The older man merely grunted firmly. "Leo it is! As for me… P.K. sounds fitting."

"Player killer?" Leo muttered in misunderstanding, only to see him laugh again.

"More like Prime Knight." This time, the red head laughed. "Whaaaaat?"

"That's something coming from fairy tales! You sure about that kind of nickname?" When the man merely stared at him, his laughter died gradually. "Then… P.K. Nice to have a strong guy like you on my side."

"Likewise, Leo." P.K. smirked back at the gold eyes that were overflowing with confidence.

* * *

Though they had promised not to meet up outside of the dream world to avoid suspicion, Elaine had noticed and waved to the two other men of the so-called 'current' Grand Chase on the second Saturday since the awakening of the saviour. 'So much for trying for escaping people spying on us or something…' She thought to herself.

'It can't be help. Most things are needed to be done in the real world. It seems the dream world can only be fully utilized to prepare the lot of you for real situations…' Elesis muttered back. The saviour inside was right. It was better to work this way. Especially when the said saviour and a certain abyss knight loved to fight against each other most of the time in the dream world to the point it wastes time. At least in the real world, they'll just glare daggers at each other and at most argue verbally via their vessels.

"So Elaine. You got the same letter too, huh…" Rivera stated as they came closer to her. "The one that says to come at the Dragon Park Station." She nodded.

"It was really mysterious." She grunted. "The local police officer actually passed it to me when he passed by my home, saying that it was a serious matter that had to be kept quiet."

Rolan agreed to this. "An officer also gave this message to me. But he had approached me at school."

The three groaned. Suddenly, a letter was given to the three of them. Usually, Elaine would ignore it, Rivera would definitely reply out of politeness and Rolan would act immediately. But when an official was asked to send it to them, it was a whole different matter. What's more, the content had already scared the living daylights of, not just the three, but the ancient heroes themselves.

_'I know who all three of you are and I know who the heroes you all are burdened with. Elaine Sieghart, vessel of Elesis Sieghart. Rivera Axentinne, vessel of Ryan Woodsguard. Rolan Erudon, vessel of Ronan Erudon. If you'd like to know who I am, please meet me at Dragon Park Station, Kanavan on Saturday in the afternoon.'_

Okay, maybe Elaine's message wasn't exactly the same, being an average to low student she is. She had an easier message to understand. But that's not the case.

"Whoever this was, it could be the person who had been spying on us until recently." Elaine snarled, "If he's an enemy, I can finally try out my new fighting moves." She picked up a long bag that had lied on the lonely bench and pulled out a wooden sword.

"… That is Hastern's, isn't it?" The teacher asked bluntly after seeing another person's name on the side of the bag. Elaine flinched, but then smiled confidently.

"Yeap. Naoto will be proud of my abilities. Just he wait… When he wakes up…" She trailed away, lowering the sword onto the bag. A heavy chain pulled down her heart.

'How could I….' She whispered to herself silently. In all these passing days, the high school girl had actually had so much fun with the discoveries linked to the Grand Chase. To the point she had forgotten about the white haired beau, sleeping comfortably inside the white room, passing each day quietly, fighting for full recovery. She hadn't even asked Sibil about him lately either. What kind of friend was she? And right after she had learned his feelings for her….

'Elaine… It is not your fault.' The saviour whispered back. The older woman had a faint caring tone, unlike her usual, yet it was soothing. 'A lot of things are happening at once… We'll visit him after this meeting, alright…?'

'… Hahahah…' She chuckled to herself. 'How confident of you to think that we might actually survive this meeting if it were an enemy.'

The girl could image it, the Saviour puffing out her chest proudly. 'Of course! I personally trained you! There are no excuses you'll ever lose!'

"Elaine!" She reacted to the shout, drawing her sword. Rivera had already turned into his wolf transformations and Rolan had started casting his magic. Beyond her male companions, she saw that they were surrounded by monsters, all glaring at them with hostility. Green swamp-like slimes and slimy toads, creeping towards them.

"Awooooooooo!" Howled the wolf, before he launched himself towards the creatures. Elaine followed suit, roaring her battle cry that was powered by feelings that were pent up inside her. Rolan erased most smoothly with his simple yet deadly magic shards.

* * *

"… Did you hear that?" A blond grunted to his female companion. She shook her head. "Hmm… Funny… I thought I heard a wolf's howl."

"Riku, there aren't wolves near Kanavan." She replied back, clutching onto her bag as she pranced on without him. He merely smiled weakly to her innocence and followed her.

"Well, my friend can turn into a wolf, you know..."

"And mine can summon scythes from out of nowhere." She giggled back, stopping at her destination. "Thanks for walking me here, Riku. I'll see you later."

"No problem, Gisella." He smiled. "I'll be at the local library. Have fun with your friend." As he casually walked away, the girl waved at him gently. She, Gisella Flonn, then skipped into the depths of the graveyards.

Now, the Northern Territory was a Kanavan District that was barren and wasted. So they had preserved the land by building a holy church and sited a graveyard at the place. And strangely enough, in the recent years, it had prospered since.

But Gisella knew better to credit everything to her companion she had met as she wandered in the area. "Dirge!"

An annoyed yowl replied back to her, followed by an explosion.

"Oops… Did I scare you again?" The blond gasped as she approached him. He who was covered in black soot and dirt and had a scowling face that could send any sane adult cowering away. It was a good thing Gisella thought she wasn't sane – though she has yet to realize that was a bad thing.

"No! I was not scared!" He snapped back defensively, brushing off all the dirt over him, revealing a murky purple hair. Purple eyes as well, glared at the soft green eyes who stared at him ignorantly. "Geez… Look at what you made me do! I was nearly successful with that one!"

Gisella giggled silently, watching the man heave himself up and mutter strange, foreign words. The first time she saw this man was when she was trying to read a book that was written in scribbling that seemed like utter nonsense. The man had casually glanced over her and began reading it lightly. 'Since then, Dirge and I became friends…' She continued to giggle to the fact he would never accept the fact that they were friends.

"Anyways, Dirge. Look what I managed to find~!" She yelped happily, dropping her heavy bag. The sound of thud perked the strangely pointed ear of the man as he approached her cautiously. The younger girl then pulled out a fat, thick, leather covered old book with much effort. On it, foreign golden words were imprinted.

"Asmodian Dark Arts…" He stated as he read the tittle, taking it away from her so easily. "The language is much easier to decipher…" Selfishly walking away and reading it, he then picked up another, old and torn away book. A light fling to the girl caught her by surprise. "I don't need that one. It's useless."

"Eh? But you said-"

"Seems like my powers won't sync with that type of dark magic. It's of another underworld…" He grunted immediately, flipping on to the next page with determination. She then put away her book.

"Then I'll just donate it to the local libr-"

"NOT THE LOCAL LIBRARY!" The purple haired man shouted. Noticing he had startled the being, he went back to his moody self. "There's an annoying woman there who keeps yelling at me for taking references…"

"…. Did you rip out pages from a book again? You do know that that's called abusing books?"

"Like I care if books had feelings or not." He grunted back. "Just hold on to them, will ya?" He continued to read the book, ignoring anymore disturbances. Gisella watched him, mumbling lightly and knowledgably at each turn of a page. She couldn't help but smile.

The first time she met the man, he was a total wreck. From what she heard, he was a runaway and wanted to lead his own life instead of following his family's business. Entering Kanavan, he got lost and had help from a childhood friend. But knowing he couldn't stay as a NEET (Not in employment, education or training) forever (he wished that would be possible though), he walked around to find a job and had glanced over the girl's book whilst she read in front of the graveyard.

Coincidentally, the graveyard needed a grave keeper after people keep coming in the dead of night and stealing bodies. Dirge was hired immediately and had been a huge help to everyone there. The man accepted it wholeheartedly, beating up any intruders like a monster and taking care of the place. And on the side lines, he took advantage of the land's lack of life to practice the dark arts.

"By the way, Dirge… After you said you had successfully summoned out that scythe, did you manage to progress with that dreams of yours?" The girl softly asked. He didn't lift his head. He didn't even move an inch from his current position.

"The dreams tell me that the scythe is called a Soul Reaver. Pretty weird name if you ask me. I rather call it something cooler." He snorted, yet seemed pretty amused at the fact he could still summon it. And the fact that he felt he was close to solving his dreams made him more satisfied.

Vague images of a person ruled a barren wasteland with creatures, mercilessly defeated by him solely, with a demonic hand that conquered over them with such terrorizing magic powers. Dirge had thought if he practiced this magic, he might be able to decode what it was all about. And turns out one by one, it was revealed to him.

"Just that arm… I can't seem to figure what that is…" He sighed as he continued to read on, figuring out another spell to try out later. "... Oh? How to summon a huge lance out of nowhere… This is amusing…"

* * *

"There are too many of them!" Rolan shouted as he herded the monsters into a group and tried to finish them off with a blast bomb. Regretfully, it had also left a scarring impact onto the station grounds. He grunted, there was no other way that to sacrifice a small portion of the station rather than to know those monsters would roam about in the streets and attack any innocent bystanders. The teacher then moved on to the next set of mob. "I don't think I can keep up with this…!"

"You don't say!" Rivera yelled back in his humanoid form, punching every creature in sight. He backed the wannabe knight who slashed and hack every monster who dared to pounce on the both of them. "I'm running out of stamina as well…!"

The two were mere scholars, leaving only Elaine who was actually had a physical fitness that would match any ordinary knight of the past, being a star athlete. But the girl growled. If this keeps up, they would be toast. And their ancient heroes couldn't help them if they took over at that moment since it was their bodies, their stamina, endurance, health, not the heroes'.

"GWAAAAARGH!" From the other end of the station, heavy stomps crept closer to the group. A large, bulky green monster approached towards them clumsily, breaking every bench and public décor in its path.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT, RIVERA?!" Elaine screamed first at the sight of the repulsive thing. She even choked at the stench that it was emitting.

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?!"

"YOU'RE THE NATURE FREAK! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD KNOW!"

"It's some creature named Elizabeth! Another enemy of the Grand Chase…" Rolan grumbled, after hearing the abyss knight informing him of the creature. "Seriously, when do you guys not make enemies?!"

'When evil finally dies, or Elesis stops charging in and thinking everyone's a non-negotiable enemy.' Darkly Rolan muttered, leaving the teacher speechless to how childish he could be.

"Elesis just screamed that Ronan's an idiot for calling her a thick-head who only charges in for everything!" The high school girl shouted to him, making him shiver slightly. The teacher didn't even say anything that could reach the girl's ears.

Seriously, Elesis… How are you capable of doing the weirdest things…?

"!" Elaine restraint herself the instant the sight of an unfamiliar, mechanical blade stabbed the slime which tried to pounce on her. More blades had appeared itself out of nowhere, mercilessly slashing and hacking through every monster present. "Where-?!"

"I apologise for being late!" A foreign voice appeared out of nowhere with light footsteps rushing towards them, wearing nothing conspicuous such as a beanie, jacket and jeans. Hand waving back, the flying blades retreated to him. Another swipe of his hands, and the blades seemed to have followed, slashing every enemy present. Finished with the mob, he continued to run, past the chasers, towards Elizabeth. "You're not wanted in this world…"

With another swing of his arm, the blades sent the creature flying out of the station, showing nothing but utter strength to the other three. Yet they took no notice to the cracks that spread throughout the walls and roof quickly. He turned around revealing hetero eyes which surprised everyone." Get out! The place will collapse!"

"Y-yes!" Rolan replied involuntarily, grabbing Elaine by her arm. She instinctively grabbed the kendo bag before she ceased to resist the older man's tug. Rivera then gave the two the final push by bashing behind them, throwing all three out of the station. In mere minutes, the building collapsed into rubbles. But their eyes were still fixated to the man who had suddenly barged into their fight.

His fingers worked like magic, commanding his blades swiftly to keep the creature from even moving an inch, other than to flinch and cry out in anger. Reaching his hand upwards, he yelled. "Freeze Tempest!"

"N-no way…"

"That's… Too cool…"

They merely watched the sky revolving only around him. Clouds had gathered above and solidified into large icicles. And each and every piece of ice were left to fall with increasing velocity towards the ground. Towards Elizabeth.

In mere seconds, the monster was no more. The man scanned the vicinity and the damage caused by his technique and then turned around to face the three chasers. A strange, cracked smile formed on his face, sending shivers to the three of the watchers.

"…. I guess I still can't smile naturally…." He mumbled, but loud enough for the rest to hear. He had immediately turned into a cold and stoic person. "Well then…. Elesis Sieghart. Ryan Woodsguard. Ronan Erudon. I apologize for the lateness but, welcome back to this world."

"W-who are you…?"

"Hmm…?" He grunted in surprise and then took a glance to any reflection nearby. Sure enough, he sniffed. "I guess I changed a lot in appearance as well…" Taking off his beanie as he reached out for a pair of glasses from the jacket's pockets, a different person seemed to appear before them. Long blue hair flowed down. And with the glasses comfortably sitting on her nose, they jolted.

"You are…!"

"Yes… I am-"

"A girl?!" Rivera blurted out involuntarily, only to get hit by Elaine. The blue haired maiden merely looked at him.

" I am Mari M. Onette, La Geas of the Grand Chase…"

**Chapter 5 - End**

* * *

Yo... I have no idea what came over me... I've been in a writing mood so tadaaaa~  
And just when my winter break ends... (whyyyyyyyyyy?!)

Hmm... I don't really have much to say for this chapter except for the sudden change in scenes - sorry about that... =w="  
Though, I bet you guys could probably guess who Leo and P.K really are. Come on... Prime Knight for hell's sake. He's making it too easy for us... Damn him for looking down on us! \(A)/  
And uh... Guess Kamille should let go of her brother complex? Let your little brother spread his wings and fly on his own~!  
Dio! I have offered you an innocent lamb for you to order around as your henchman! Treat her well, alright?!  
By the way, the characters have to depend on the present bodies they have. They can't be all superhuman like they were cause to just turn like that is just creepy unless you follow those weird 6 steps to get ripped and buffed kind of stuff...  
OH GOSH! ELESIS HAS TELEKINESIS! THE WORLD IS DOOMED! HAHAHA... just kidding. She just trusted her guts and they told her that Ronan insulted her =D  
Then Mari was there being all epicure and Rivera just had to ruin the mood at the last minute. Good boy ;P

Ciao for now and happy late new year (?) Did I actually greet it already? I can't remember...


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 - Don't ever damage library books...**

She was in awe, staring at the towers of books that stood everywhere in her sight. Little will-o-the-wisps floated everywhere, serving as an object of illumination. Walking through each corridor, more books seem to open up to her. A giddy feeling sprouted from her heart knowing she was in a paradise of books.

Taking one into her hand, she began to read one. Yet, she couldn't understand it all. It was written in such a way that seemed like gibberish to her. It's alright, she thought, there was always another book. Reaching out to another one, she flipped it open. Only to see that it was still far from understandable.

_'Child, you walk in the world the Nirvana of Knowledge,  
A paradise of information, it is the pleasure of the mind,  
Yet its secrets are secluded to the highest of Violet Mages,  
They who have walked a glorious path as a Battle Mage.'_

A song played in her ears. And she nodded to it, understanding that only a Battle Mage could unlock its secrets. She placed the book back into the shelf and wandered aimlessly away. The world of her dreams had revealed itself to her, yet she knew she could never read any of them. The horror of unable to attain it, despite it being in her hands was too much for her. Her legs collapsed, and she cried a soundless wail.

She knew she could never become a Battle Mage…

* * *

_'..In other news, the Dragon Park Station had collapsed due to its ancient beams. It was fortunate enough that a train from Serdin had an emergency and stopped minutes before its time of collapse…'_

News about the Dragon Park Station had gone out throughout Kanavan, especially when the station was the oldest standing station in the kingdom that was linked to another station in Serdin. The woman groaned after passing by the screens of television behind a glass pane of a shop, knowing what was really at fault but that didn't matter to her.

'How am I going to get back home…. All my research lies there… And I already told her that news here spread like wild fire. People will think that this event will be very suspicious…' She thought to herself, drinking her milkshake as she pouted. Half of her research was still stuck at her place at Serdin. Turning back, she could see three unsure faces, staring at her with confusion and caution. She couldn't blame them. She had suddenly came out of the blue, wrecked the station, calling herself Mari M. Onette and now treating them all to milkshakes and leading them around the small shopping district of Dragon Park. "Please relax, I'm really Mari."

The hetero eyes then stared at blue. "Rolan. You know me, don't you? We were ex-classmates in Noire High until I transferred to Serdin. Instead of Mari, I went under the name Melody Ming and I was still invited to that drinking party weeks ago and I came to make sure you were still alive."

The teacher stiffen to her plead. She sighed. "What would it take to make the three of you believe I am the Geas?"

"…. Well…" the three had looked at each other with concern. Rolan clears his throat. "You see…. I would easily believe you, especially with your weapon and your skills. It was tremendous, by the way. But the there of us could agree that the souls inside us aren't taking it easy to believe this…"

"Ronan… Ryan… Elesis… Why is that?"

Elaine charged up to her. Her red eyes looked straight to the woman's blue and red eyes. "Elesis says the Mari they know is a quiet, cold person who talks funny and likes to mind her own business and never smiles or laugh… And what you are… Well… You don't have the same aura…"

A disbelieved sigh seeped out of the hetero eyed person again. "I can understand the first reason… Living alone can change oneself…" She sighed in reluctance. "But the latter…" Mari looked at each and every one of them, taking a quick sip of her drink. "It'd be best if I tell you all now than to let you all discover it later on…That my aura is different because I appear half of what you all know as Mari."

"What does that mean..?"

"… When I first blinked my eyes into this new era, I had found myself in a present hospital room in Serdin. Apparently, the girl who was supposed to be my vessel had fallen into an unknown comma and had been left sleeping in there. It seemed that my awakening, with unknown cause, had become her recovery…" The woman turned away with a darkened expression. "In exchange for the body's recovery… I had been forced to adapt quickly to the drastic changes and continued her life for her… Without getting the chance to even thank her for this chance to once again reunite with my fellow members…"

"Of course you can thank her, doesn't she share your bod-"

"She's gone." Mari bluntly stated coldly, in the icy tone that was very nostalgic for the chasers. "She doesn't exist in this world anymore…"

* * *

"Hello Miss Aisha."

"Eek!" The woman yelped at the sound of a cheerful greeting, books flying out of her hands after her jolt. She took her time to regain her composure as she bent down to pick up her books. Only after every book was in her hand did her lilac eyes look up.

He was a relatively tall man, and quite well-built. Yet he possessed such slate grey eyes stared at the girl innocently. "Sorry… Did I scare you?"

"S-somewhat…" She responded back, retreating away from the lanky man. Her lilac eyes shifted away from him hesitantly. "So what do you need?"

"May I have that book you're holding on to? It's the fifth book of the series that I'm reading…" Gently and politely he asked, giving a faint smile to her. Instead of making an immediate eye contact, she looked straight down to the pile of books she clutched on to. Only one of them had a number 5 on its title, so she assumed that was the book he was referring to.

"Here…" She shoved the book to him, showing no signs of interest to the man. Despite that, she knew how gentle he seemed, continuously accepting her cold treatment and smiling at her happily. After giving away the book, her lilac eyes went straight to the bookshelves, scanning each title without hearing his thanks.

She couldn't help it. It had already become part of her nature to reject any advances from anyone. Be it to have a mutual relationship or just a simple friendship.

She, Aisha Grimmoire, hated the society.

And she had initially thought she was free of society after becoming a librarian and locking herself up in the solitude of knowledge. The Northern Territory's Library was practically deserted, having a visitor count of about 6 every month. Actually, the Northern Territory was still a developing district, so there weren't much people living in the district compared to the rest of the districts of Kanavan. But it was there that Aisha could find the small peace that she wishfully needed.

She just hated mingling. The thought of getting close to a person, let alone talked to another, crossed her mind and was destroyed instantly. Which was why she was glad that she was hired to be a librarian at a near to isolated library. Plus, she could read all the books she wanted.

'And after a couple of weeks, that guy will surely lose interest in trying to have a proper conversation with me and stop coming to the library…' She thought to herself, rearranging books as she went along the lane, gradually releasing a book after another from her possession.

He was but a typical man. And he had suddenly started to come by after Aisha had offered him shelter from the rain by letting him in the library. 'Hmph. Just like a stray pet who's grown attached to their saviour.' She groaned, shoving the last book into place. 'But unlike an animal, he's human… And therefore, he thinks…'

With that she concluded that he had ulterior motives. No matter how innocent or ignorant one may be, there was always a reason for them to act that way. Call her paranoid, if you wish, but she rather be on the safe side than to suffer. The purple haired woman went around the counter and scanned for her admission book.

His name was Terry Penn. Well, so says the neat writings on the library card. Aisha seldom remembered names, but she kept in mind that it was the name of a person she had to keep her guard around. But she did blink at one thing when she sat and took a proper glance under the man's name.

'… A grown man's reading books that are related to a children's fairy tale…. Strange…'

"Miss Aisha?"

"Eep!" She yelped once more, nearly falling off her chair. She looked up to see another person, a long time regular at the library. "Lauren… Don't scare me too…!"

"I didn't try. You just spaced out too much…" The man grunted. "Anyways, I'd like to borrow this book but there are some missing pages…"

Aisha immediately frowned at the first sight of that book, knowing the light purple cover and gold rims all too well. She immediately remembered what exactly happened to that book. There was this one weirdo, dressed up all funny looking with straps and chains on his clothes and suddenly ripping out library property. It irritated her to how indecent he could treat a book.

And she assumed he took the missing pages….

"I'm sorry. But there is no completed copy in this library. As to why it is incomplete, I shall track down whoever is responsible and retrieve compensation for the repairs of this book…"

She swore she heard the man curse under his breath. She didn't blame him. Books weren't written to be selfishly torn apart like that.

* * *

'… He's still sleeping…' Elaine stared at the white haired boy. He was lying comfortably on the bed, peace written all over his face. The red head was a little more relieved to see him like that, especially when most of his wounds had finally shown a significant amount of recovery.

"Elaine?" A soft whisper from the entrance of the room caught her attention. Sibil entered, holding a small little basket of treats. "You actually came for a visit…"

"S-sorry… I was so caught up in the Grand Chase business that I had forgotten about Naoto… Honestly, I feel really bad about it and-"

"Naoto woke up a few days ago." She said bluntly. "And when I told him you didn't visit, he laughed. He kind of understood how you have a simple, one-track mind and didn't mind it at all… So I didn't really tell you about it." Sibil giggled lightly, seeing the younger girl turn as red as her hair.

Elaine changed the subject. "… He was awake….?"

"Yeap. It seems it was for a while though… The only important thing he said was that he wishes all the best for the Grand Chase…"

"Okay…" A small smile appeared on her. Elaine stared at the boy, then to his sister. "I have a lot of things to talk to him about… But for now…If he wakes up again, could you tell him that we'll do our best and… Thanks to him, I didn't think the way of the sword could be this cool… I promise to try and visit him more often too. See you at school, Sibil."

"Sure, Elaine." Sibil smiled as she waved the girl goodbye. After seeing off the red head, she turned to the sleeping boy. "… How is it fun to act as Sleeping Beauty?"

A reluctant groan seeped from the beau as he pushed himself up, looking at his sister mischievously. "But you played along with me, sis~ In any case…" Naoto scratched his head with his left arm, looking out at the window next to his bed. He saw the figure of the high school student, skipping out of the gates. "… It's better if she doesn't know more about me…"

"Naoto…"

"Don't repeat it, Sibil. I know what you're going to say to me but…" He sighed. "I can't be selfish… This fate we have now is better than to see history repeating itself…"

At the thought of those words, he reached to his right arm, still lying under the covers of his blanket. A massive sting thundered from his limb, yet he let no sound of his pain escape. He merely looked beyond the window, watching the girl run off to home.

"The least I can do is to keep myself from getting further involved in this…."

* * *

He glanced left and right. Corpses and carcasses were left everywhere on the battlefield to be rot. The scent of blood flooded his nose, heightening all his senses to extreme heights. Every glance he took, his heartbeat grew faster. Ears pricked to crying and wailing of throes and agony. The moon shone above him in a dark shade of red, laughing as it questioned his sanity in this devastated world.

The silhouette of a man stood in front of him, head titled in curiosity to his well-being. Though the moonlight shone over the both of them, he could only make out the slight movements of mouth, opening widely, jagged fangs revealing themselves.

_'He stand here before you as the King of Destruction,  
In his hands, the dark powers that will rule the world,  
Show him your worth, your capability as his vessel,  
And he shall grant you everything as your true strength.'_

The shadowed being hummed, flicking his left arm. A blue fiery light consumed his whole arm, only to disperse to reveal a frighteningly huge claw. And the hum immediately intensified into an insane laugh that rang into his ears. But in the midst of his laugh, he could hear the demonic figure whisper.

_"… Seek for knowledge… Obtain the power… Release me…"_

_"RELEASE ME FROM MY KEEP!"_

* * *

His arm throbbed in angst when he blinked from his daydream. Yet the first thing he said was not a groan of pain, but a silent moan. "… Seek for knowledge…"

"Hmm?" The blond stopped reading her book and immediately looked up. The violet haired man was in another of his deep daydreams, blankly staring into space with a book in hand. "Dirge, you alright?"

"Of course I am. What do you expect?!" An immediate reply came from the grave keeper, glowering at her in anger after snapping out of his daydream. He then settled his eyes back on to the indigo book he had been holding onto, continuing to mumble on. His eye had glanced over his left arm. It wasn't hurting anymore.

He grumbled in irk. The pain in his left arm was gradually growing after every time he woke up from that dream. It was annoying, but Dirge guessed that it just meant that he was closer to the truth, especially when he played enough games to understand how things usually worked (yes, he was using games as his base line of his theory).

"Dirge. You remember our deal, right?"

He flinched at the sound of her sentence.

See… The first time they met, in Dirge's experience, he just saw some little blond girl getting puzzled at reading a book. He wasn't usually curious in other's lives, especially total strangers, but the appearance of the book attracted him. Especially the foreign language that was written on it. It was somewhat nostalgic. Like he had seen somewhere else before. And when he asked the girl if he could take a look at that book, she made a twisted smiled with such evil he couldn't compare with.

_"I'll let you look at my book, if you tell me about your dreams every time I come by…."_

It was a small price to pay, he thought at that time. Because there was no way a kid like her would be interested in a grown man's dreams. But after that, a strange dream visited him, haunting him with a laughter so powerful and so malicious.

Unfortunately for him, the day after, he met the little blond. She smiled at him devilishly.

_"Well? What kind of dream did you get last night?"_

He remembered he had glowered at her angrily. He knew it was no mere coincidence that she asked about his weird dream just the day before it happened. But she still had that book that attracted him in her possession. 'Small price to pay… Right…?' He thought to himself.

_"Well… I can't remember."_ He said bluntly with utter honestly._ "Except for a laugh. Probably something funny…"_

_"Oh… Then you can read this book then."_

It had been that simple at first. But when the man opened the book, everything naturally became coherent in his mind. The alien language had strangely become his mother tongue as he scanned through each line. And it was that one passage that perked his interest that changed the whole deal into a whole new level.

_'Dreams that lay next to reality play the song of the faraway truth.  
Standing there with sympathy is a memory with the eternal oath.  
Dreams that lay net to reality witness the sentence that lives create  
Keeping on to that philosophy and embrace the illusive fate.'_

After reading that, slowly, his dreams grew more vivid. Gradually he began to see, hear, smell the land of carnage that manifested his unconscious thoughts. He began to realize the more he read these books that Gisella provided, the more answers about this twisted world he gained. And there was a bonus too.

He recalled briefly the first time he found a passage about summoning a weapon. Initially, he thought it was but another cheap hoax, but when he thought about it, everything in that book did aid him about the dreams. It didn't hurt to try it anyways. Right arm at standby, he concentrated every ounce of energy at the palm of his hands, following the book's instructions carefully.

_"W-woaaah…. The Lord of Hell finally gives up his scythe for me!"_

But with the recollection of the summoning of his first weapon, it was followed by a new revelation in his dreams. Dirge groaned, remembering the sight of that one silhouette, coming out of nowhere, of a creature with a messed up claw for an arm. He summoned as well, the scythe, calling it a Soul Reaver.

And each dream, he demands the same thing.

_"… Seek for knowledge… Obtain the power… Release me… RELEASE ME FROM MY KEEP!"_

He sighed gravely, having those words screamed into his ear, ringing again and again. It irritated him that he had done so much and yet it was still not enough. It angered him that every time that being kept demanding for it, he looked down at him with a sinister-like arrogance. It also annoyed him that the fact that he wanted to be in that position.

He, Dirge Steamrift, wanted to be a demon that enjoyed being in the centre of a bloodbath, ripping every living life that crossed his path, creating utter destruction to the world around him without a care.

"Dirge!" His violet eyes merely blinked to see the eagerly waiting Gisella. "Well? Tell me!" The grave keeper thought about it.

"I need to reread that book you first showed me."

"…. The dark purple book with white rim?"

"Yeah. Give it to me."

The girl hesitantly looked away. Dirge, unamused to this, growled in irk. "What's happened….?!"

"It's a book from the library…."

"…. What…?!" A furious snarl seeped out of the man. Gisella backed away slightly, knowing that this man hated the public library, especially the Northern Territory's Library. Because she heard that he had once visited it and had literally ripped out a couple of paged from a book, he was banned for life. Of course, all faults were his, but he was a stubborn man who was too ambitious. Dirge would never see his own faults so easily.

Though, she could easily borrow books from the library, seeing as she wasn't the one who damaged public property. It was that the library had a certain policy.

Damaged books are to remain in the library until it was repaired or another copy was found.

When Dirge returned that first book to her, some pages were torn apart as well. She had an earful from a lilac haired librarian and getting a mere warning though, being a girl and acting innocently (and blaming it on Riku).

A vulgar swear came out from his throat. The grave keeper had even involuntarily summoned out his scythe and slashed the air in fury. The blond sighed. 'On the bright side, his summoning skills got faster…'

* * *

Lunchtime was at the corner on the following day and all four of the 'awakened' Chasers had decided to meet up again. Elaine and Rolan had decided to get something for the four of them to eat, leaving Rivera and Mari to search for a place to dine at in the food court.

"Hey, Mari…" The orange haired spoke as he took a glance around for an empty table whilst keeping the woman's beanie in his sight.

"Yes? Oh! There's a table!" She chirped, suddenly grabbing the man's arm and pulling him towards it. When they got there, she instantly let go of the man, dropped her rucksack on the ground beside her and made herself comfortable on a seat. Her hetero colored eyes looked at him. "So…? Are you going to talk to me whilst standing or sitting?"

"Oh! Um..." He grabbed a chair and hastily sat, feeling slightly awkward to the sudden initiative made by the woman. She was supposed to have a more reserved nature. The girl also always held a book in hand, as a journal to note down every detail that can be used and as a weapon. Instead, she had nothing in her hand and he had a missing feeling to this. And then there was that cross-dressing habit of hers that made him feel odd. He was used to the pretty, feminine-like (well, appearance-wise, not personality-wise) Mari. And this current Mari, seemed so rugged and so cool and…

In a lot of ways, she looks more attractive as a man compared to both he and Rolan combined (of course it crushed his pride in many, many ways…)

A sigh seeped out of the woman, catching his attention. "Ryan…?"

Green eyes blinked in bewilderment. "Ah..? You noticed that I've come out instead of Rivera…"

"Of course. I will always recognize a friend. Especially…" She trailed away with a smile. But he swore he saw her eyes blinked with a brief depression. "Well, what was it that you needed to ask about, Ryan?"

"Um… About yesterday…"

"Ah…" She nodded. The day after the incident at the station, Mari had not only revealed herself as the Geas she was, she had also informed them on what had happened to the soul who was supposed to hold that body of hers. She had parted with them awkwardly, having an excuse to find a place to stay whilst there was still daylight since there was no way to return back to the Kingdom of Serdin. "I'm sorry to leave you guys like that and made you worry…"

"No.. We should be sorry…" The man groaned. "I mean… You had to be alone all this time, waiting for us to be awakened."

"That's alright. But I had someone assigned by the gods to watch over me so no need to feel too bad."

"Hah?" Ryan grunted in confusion. But he then nodded in understanding, thinking that this person she spoke of could be someone who was like Sibil and Naoto, a guardian of the Grand Chase's souls whilst they were still asleep. Did that mean that he had a guardian as well? He shook his head, leaving that thought at the back of his mind to worry about later. "Actually… I wanted to ask you about how you tracked down the three of us… Maybe I could understand that coincidentally, you and Rolan were classmates, but how did you know of Elaine and Rivera?"

The woman smiled, fixing her glasses. "My guardian happens to be a 'special' officer in the police force. I got her to help me get information about what was going on here and there in exchange, I become in charge of maintenances of the vehicles of the force."

"R-really?!" He yelped in astonishment, despite not understanding some of what she had said. All he knew was that her guardian could help them track down the rest of the chasers in a split second. "Then is there a way to find the rest of the Grand Chase quickly? And track down the evil that awakened us again?"

Mari looked down, shaking her head in dismay. "I'm afraid it's not that easy… She still has her duties as a police officer to fulfil so time is something that isn't on our side." She looked up to see that the green eyes had its hope shattered. She tried to smile back. "Are you forgetting that I am still here?"

The blue haired woman reached out to her bag and pulled out a familiar object. "Y-your grimmoire!"

"It was definitely tough recreating my weapons once more, but worth it." She hummed, opening up a page of the small thick book. "From what my guardian found, I've linked that most of us should have a similar persona with our current selves which we can sync with easily. That was obvious. But something like a preferable body also heightens the chance of a chaser's soul to be present. Like Elesis being in a human, knight-descendant body. It was probably by coincidence that her soul followed the Sieghart lineage, like Ronan's situation as well."

"Then as for me…?"

"You are an elven druid. It's obvious that you'd get a body that's from a lineage of elven druids somewhere. And as for me, my vessel was of a person with a good background for the mechanics and such." She shuts her book. "So it'd be obvious that Arme would be residing in a body with a lineage of magic and Jin with martial arts and so on and so forth."

"That makes… A little sense…."

"But it a little hard to track them down from there." She groaned. "I had Aisha, Arme's vessel, as my classmate back in Serdin but-"

"You met Arme?!"

"Her vessel only…. But it was only a brief encounter. After graduation, she just vanished. I found out that she had gone to Kanavan and that was it… And the case of Jin, there isn't much people who practise martial arts as a living in both Kanavan and Serdin." She noticed the slight disappointment from the vanquisher. "Don't worry.. It's only a matter of time until they'd be discovered. I mean… Rufus is still in my range."

"What do you mean by that?"

"…. Apparently, Rufus's vessel was in the police force... That is, until he disobeyed orders and had selfishly left the force. Now, according to my guardian, he's just doing part-time at an antique store that is specializing in old firearms… Pretty, Rufus-like, don't you think?"

"…. I'm not so surprised that he'd be like that… He was a person who rather worked alone with his guns…." Ryan dryly commented, remembering how annoying it was to try and get the bounty hunter to work with them as a team, only to see that he could work with a certain striker as his partner efficiently only. Everyone else seemed like trash to him. "But then, what are we waiting for? We should awaken him now."

"If it were possible, I would have awakened Rufus first, with his abilities to track down people so easily. And then I would've had Lass woken up, as he acted as a good source of information. No offence though, Ryan…" Mari sighed, looking away from the vanquisher because of her choice of Chasers to wake up. "But strangely enough, it doesn't seem to work that way… And I think…"

"You think…?"

Mari had paused for a while. "I think the awakening occurs randomly…" she sighed heavily. "I am sorry… That is a very unreliable answer, but it seems to be going that way…"

"Oh…." Ryan groaned. But he put up a smile. "Then what we can do now is to brush up on our skills and prepare for the worst, right?"

The woman did not nod nor shake her head. She simply gazed at the orange haired. "There's something else that's worrying you, isn't there? You seem a bit desperate to awaken the rest of the Chasers, you know."

Ryan blinked at the blue and red eyes that kept staring at her. He saw a familiar thorough stare of the Geas he knew, easing his heart slightly. "Well… There is one thing…."

'And I didn't know this?' Inside, Rivera questioned the Vanquisher suspiciously.

'It's for you to taste your own medicine.' Sarcasm filled the Chaser's tone as he heard an irritated groan from the university student. He then chuckled weakly. '… Actually… This is something that I think only Mari of all people could answer….'

"It looks like you didn't inform this problem to Rivera at all…" Mari hummed, guessing the right answer as she noticed how the vanquisher's expression changed immediately.

"I didn't… But it's alright. He's bound to hear this anyways.." Ryan rolled his eyes, hearing a childish whine from the soul inside him. "Anyways… When I battled with the Harpy Queen… I kind of… Went through a near to death situation and actually had a flash back…"

"And…?"

"… What exactly happened to the Grand Chase…?" He solemnly asked. "I recalled everything to the last point of our battle, where we faced… No… I can't even remember who our last opponent was… Mari… Do you know about this…?"

Colours were drained out of the Geas' face. "…. No… I don't…."

* * *

"Miss Aisha?"

"Wah!?" Lilac eyes blinked in bewilderment and met black eyes that blinked back at her shyly. Or was he trying to hide his laughter of catching her off guard? Nevertheless, the lilac eyes glared at him coldly. "Again, Lauren?!"

"What? I didn't try you know… Well, I'll be borrowing this book instead." He showed no significant response to her coldness and lifted up a different book.

"Okay… Let me check it out first…" Aisha grunted, looking away from the book to find her log book. When she found it, she opened it. The first name that caught her eye was Terry Penn. That grey haired man who enjoyed children books, specifically the Tales of the Grand Chase. Aisha looked at the man's name with curiosity. Seriously, why would a grown man enjoy a these fantasy stories? Then again, she admits. She had read the series before.

There were a total of fourteen volumes of the series and each volume described about what each of the lives that the Grand Chase lead. It started with the story of a knight to the story of a wanderer. In all honesty, she found it quite amusing, despite it being a children's series. Maybe it was the reason Terry (if she remembered his name) had decided to borrow these books. But she felt a need to have a fifteenth book which talked about their last moments, seeing as each book seemed to have abruptly ended at a point of their lives.

But the thought of it made her sigh, especially the book she had just given to Terry. It was the fifth book and it spoke of how a magician had bloomed in the Grand Chase into a Battle Mage. She didn't really have a particular hate against the character. No. In fact, Aisha had the utmost respect to her.

It was just that, something just bothered her whenever she thought of the battle mage.

"Miss Aisha, you know the Language of Elyos?" Lauren asked, making her surprised. She turned back to him and saw him leaning over the counter and looking at the mess on her desk. There were papers of foreign writings at where she was daydreaming over. Aisha grunted.

"The Language of Elyos…? I'm afraid I myself have no idea what that is…" She callously said, going back to searching for her book. "It's just things that I unconsciously doodle down whenever I daydream."

Well, first of all, she had no idea what Elyos is. Was it a country? A continent? Usually she didn't really care about it. Usually…

"…. Lauren… Do you know about it….?" She asked meekly, with the lowest voice she could make. Half hoping he didn't hear her ask him and keep staring at the paper, half hoping he heard her question and answered her curiosity. Because Aisha knew whatever she doodled down whenever she was daydreaming, it was something that had a hidden secret in it.

She had believed so for years. And to try and prove that, she had even went her way to publish her writings, despite not understanding it herself, and kept in in this very library, watching if anyone would glance over the foreign title and read it as if they understood it. So far, most would return it with an annoyed expression.

Speaking of which, she recalled a little blond girl borrowing it. But had returned it as a mess. Well, she must have taken out her frustration on the poor thing. And there was also a freaky-looking man…

But in this case, Lauren was different. He did want to borrow one of her books, despite being torn up. So he must have known the language… Right?

"Well... I think I can read a bit of it…" The pale man spoke once more, leaning closer to the papers. "He who is the kin of the Burning Canyon shall be gifted with the Rake Hand that shall bring about utter destruction…"

"… I wrote that kind of thing…?!"

"Makes sense to me." The man said when he saw the librarian in shock at the unpleasant sentence she wrote. "I mean from that book I showed you earlier, it spoke about Asmodians, the demons of Elyos, having different tribes. And the Burning Canyon was one of the powerful ones with their trade mark weapons… Seems like it's the rake hand that makes them strong…"

The man then noticed how fearful she seemed. He didn't blame her. She was suddenly unconsciously writing a language of another world and it had such a dangerous meaning. Yet, she suddenly showed a glint of optimism.

"… How did you know this, Lauren…?" Aisha felt it; a spark inside of her that someone actually understood her. But she hesitated slightly, restricting herself from getting closer to the man. Nothing good ever happens if any close relationships were to be made, she thought to herself. She had to keep it at a controlled distance. "Well…?"

"… Miss Aisha… It's time for you to know about your destiny… That you have a soul of a Grand Chase member in your body…"

* * *

BUMP

"Oww…." Gisella groaned in pain. She had half expected herself to have landed on her bottom, but there were two hands that had grabbed onto her arms. The undertaker behind her had caught her, saving her from the fate of having contact with the floor.

"Watch where you're going, tall freak." Dirge growled at the man in front of him. A very tall, grey haired man with the most scared expression he had ever seen.

"S-sorry…" He stuttered quickly, picking up his book he had dropped in the collision and rushed off. Dirge glowered at him for a while. Why would a man read that kind of book? Then again, he was reading a book about the dark arts. Dirge then he helped the girl up to her feet.

"Thanks, Dirge…"

"… I didn't know you had long ears…" The man stated, looking at her in a different angle. True, he had always looked at her from the front or side, only to have her do his biddings. But now, from the back, he could see her ears perking out of her long blond hair.

"I've always had them. That's why I can hear every mutter you say when you sleep with a book in your face." She giggled when she saw the older man get flustered in embarrassment that a side of him was easily discovered by her. "But wow… He was tall, wasn't he?"

"Who cares. Just move your butt. I want to get that book as soon as possible…" In his hand were crumpled pieces of papers. "See?! I even brought this to apologize to that damned woman."

Gisella stared at the papers. They were full of that same weird language of his and were badly taken care of. She assumed it was those which he had ripped out from another book. When she took a closer look at it, she couldn't even see anything that could be properly read, despite it being another language. "… We'll be having a hard time getting the librarian's approval with that…"

"Shut it, lesser being. I'll get those books and that's final." He growled back, leading the blond towards the building of knowledge. Gisella rolled her eyes. It had been a while since he called her with a weird nickname, not that she was complaining. She didn't really mind it at all. Though the moment she started to follow him, she bumped to him lightly. Dirge was just standing.

"Dirge?"

"… Shit. The Library's closed…" He slinked towards the entrance, noticing the note neatly stuck on the door. "Seems like the woman's gone for a temporary break…"

"Aww… Then we'll just have to wait for- Dirge! What are you doing?!" She yelped suddenly, gaping at the man who suddenly summoned out his Soul Reaver. It glowed darkly in his right hand. A gleam of death sparked on the tip of its blade.

"What it looks like. I'm breaking in." He muttered menacingly. With a simple swing of his giant scythe, he slashed down the door. Without a care, he stepped into unauthorized area callously, eyes set on the prize he seeked. "Now where did she put them….?"

Gisella blinked. "I… I can't believe I have a criminal as a friend…" Yet she followed after the man hesitantly, not forgetting to look behind her in case there were any witnesses. She did not want to be on a wanted poster whilst she was this young. At the same, she didn't really want to leave the undertaker alone long enough. Who knows what he could do in the library with a giant scythe?!

"Oh shit…." The curse caught the blond's attention as she entered the book haven. Quickly rushing to the undertaker's side, she curiously looked over the counter he stood in front of.

"The librarian's the writer! No wonder she was so possessive about those books…"

"I don't care about that." Dirge snatched the papers immediately, scanning them hastily. "This is makes sense now… The pain in my arm… That guy's hand…!" Dirge slinked around the counter, leaving the girl dumbfounded. "Seems like that librarian has all the answers I need." He then landed his bottom on the woman's chair.

"Dirge…"

"I'll wait for her to return."

"What if she refuses to tell you?"

"I have a scythe." He smiled, his purple eyes glinted mischievously. Gisella stared at him worriedly. He was wearing a serious expression that glared at the papers with a hunger for more knowledge. 'Burning Canyon…. I will have your powers…'

* * *

"This is too much… We're just going to a meeting…" The blue haired woman whined as she looked out of the window. The scene outside was of endless tall buildings that blocked both sky and ground. Figures. It was the kind of scenery you'd get in an apartment in the centre of Kanavan.

"It's not just a meeting, Solera..." In front of her, her subordinate aided her fix her suit. "You're going to present yourself as the Mafia's new boss."

"To Hell with the commission!" Kamille lashed out angrily, yet remained still to let her underling help her with her suit. "I don't want to be the Boss. They're going to start nagging me to do their work."

"It can't be helped. You've got a great influence over most of the factions of the mafia." He was right in every perspective. The commission had always favoured her skills in politics and her ability to strategize a plan. On the other side, she worked well with the other captains of their mafia group and maintained a steady alliance with them. But, she thought, it didn't mean that she was capable of being the boss. There were still others who were better than her.

But she dared not to say that. Everyone in the mafia knew that the best way to deal with the commission, the ruling panel of families of the mafia group, and every other old higher ups, was to act like an ignorant kid and let them play as the prideful know-it-alls who take care of them like the 'grown-ups' they were.

"And since when have you been acting so maturely?" She glared at the silver haired man who had finished his work and rubbed his palms together in satisfaction of his effort.

"On the contrary, I'm actually feeling annoyed that you're the boss." He grumbled. "No offence, Solera. But… I'll miss the days that we shared together, running around the streets and defending our territory."

'Ahh….' Kamille thought, as she began recalled the first she met him.

Lorraine was a kid of the streets without a home to return to and belonged to no orphanage. He roamed around with an empty heart and without any will to carry on. In addition, he dared not to approach anyone to the brink that he was scared of other life. And when he collapsed, it was in front of her, just around the time she had finally gotten the position of a captain of the Silver Rose Mafia.

'And I taught him how it feels to be surrounded with life…' The woman thought as she patted the silver haired man. She could remember how hard it was for her to get him to open up and accept another person's help. It was a nightmare getting him to even speak a little. 'Thankully, old man Fritz helped me out and adopted him…'

Fritz was an old friend of hers. But that was another story.

Right now, Kamille was certain that the silver haired man, her dear subordinate, her fratello, didn't want to stray too far from her after tasting the sweetness of their companionship.

"Don't worry, my little fratello. Being the boss is just getting a new title. We'll still go on the same campaigns." She smiled.

Lorraine merely stared at her. "… I don't know what you're trying to mean, but do whatever you want…" He then looked away, ears flushed.

The woman nodded as she saw him leave the apartment. She then exhaled, recalling a glimpse of what he might have went through before their encounter. 'He had once mentioned he wanted revenge against the Midnight Troops…'

Midnight Troops was a name that, she admits, sent shivers into her skin whenever she heard the name. They were lawless men who silently stalk in the shadows and destroyed whatever they wished, be it one of the ruling gangs in the underworld or an innocent family that was ignorant of this side of the world.

She assumed he was another victim of their devilish acts. Just like her.

'But maybe… Becoming the Mafia boss, I might be able to grant him his revenge' She gave a weak sigh when a thought crossed her mind. "Oh man… How am I going to explain this to lil bro….."

She imagined Rolan to be very shocked that his older sister had just became a Boss of one of the strongest ruling mafia groups in Kanavan, and probably in the whole of Bermessiah. The thought of him fainting did cross her mind. Then again, he had fainted several times knowing she was involved with such an organization and doing such activities that could make her be easily mistaken as a criminal.

Yet he hadn't shown any signs of hate to her. Very unlike the rest of the Erudon family. '… I just hope he's still lenient on me… Because this isn't enough…'

She stared at the outside world once more. 'Becoming the mafia boss wasn't part of my plan but it'll make it all faster…'

'Our revenge will be fulfilled….'

**Chapter 6 - End**

* * *

Osh..!  
Chapter 6 is done :3

Um...  
About mafias.. Each successing Boss is chosen by the Commission, a bunch of ruling families who support the group itself financially and control the violence level of their actions. I think... Seriously... Wiki and Movies don't talk much about those shit, but well... At least it sounded like that...

And as for the poem that helped Dirge remember the dreams... That was based on a song's lyrics. Well, I tampered it's original (I'm sorry), but it fits the situation so much that I had to use it. And promote the song here! XD  
It's a song arrange called 'Quod Erat Demonstrandum' by a circle called SOUND HOLIC. And it's an arranged of a background music for a Japanese game called Touhou. Nice game if you're a hardcore gamer who'd like to try a near-to-impossible-game-to-lose (Of course, as a softcore dungeoneer, it's pretty hard, even in easy level).  
Don't worry, I haven't turned my back on Grand Chase. I still do casual runs online and complain that Rukkha is annoying to kill and that Elfbane dude is really getting on my nerves... (why must kill him multiple times?! orz)

Sigh... I'd like to hole myself up in the corner now...  
I'm happy to see Zero's third job out (finally, they cared!) but I'm a bit disappointed that I have to wait a little longer for it to be released in NAGC... q-q

Which reminds me, what are your favorite characters to play with in GC? I mean... I always talk about Zero and nuff said. I'm curious of the other end too ^^

And btw, Haruka-chan~! it's been so long since i posted that up in devart that i thought no one would see anymore ^^" (To be more specific, I haven't updated my life in DevArt in months... 3) well, it seems to me that you've enjoyed it so yeah. thanks :D


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 - Always expect the unexpected  
**

The Prime Knight looked at what seemed like his final barren battlefield that blanketed the land under the stars. 'Finally,' he thought, clenching his fists, tightening his grip on his gladius, 'I can just live my life in peace…'

He looked over his shoulder. Behind him, the red headed Saviour, his great granddaughter, was making up strategies next to the Abyss Knight in front of a small fire. The Battle Mage was busy tending to the Vanquisher's injuries, as well as looking worriedly at the Dusk Bringer's own wounded arm. The Nova was standing up as their lookout on the south side, Striker and Arbiter at east and west respectively (He had taken up north).

As for the Harbringer, she had fallen asleep next to the Starlet. No one blamed them for retiring early for the day after they had spent enormous amounts of their stamina for support. This left the Rama and Advancer to scout the area, in case of unwanted sneak attacks at their make-shift camp.

Next to him, La Geas stood, watching the horizon where they were going to engage with their last opponent. "Hey. Enjoying the sights?"

"… Not really…" She muttered back, turning away from him. She only halted when she was grabbed by her arm. "What?"

"… Something wrong…?" The man asked hesitantly, staring into her eyes. There was a different glow in them. It has always seemed different to him, ever since the chasers reunited with her after _that_ incident. Nevertheless, as long as she was with them, it was fine by him. Well, that's what he thought initially.

There was still something that bothered him about her. About the current her.

"La Geas, the beautiful gem of the Ancient Kingdom of Kounat  
She ties us all as the goddess, the link with the celestial deities,  
With the secrets of the soul stone deeply embedded in her,  
She wields its powers to clash against every one of her enemies,  
To keep it all alive, her knowledge and beliefs, her Old Empire,  
As well as her comrades, her loved ones, her new life she walks."

The woman hummed to herself, blinking away from his obsidian eyes and gazed to the world beyond. The prime knight merely stared at her with ignorance.

"What…?"

"…. Nothing." She smiled lightly, shaking her head. "You should sleep. I'm taking over your post."

The Prime Knight thought a lot about it. Mostly because he didn't hear what she really hummed about. But the way she seemed to have acted made him think that maybe she was making fun of his concerns for her, telling him that it was alright. Though, he still kept a suspicious gaze on her as he walked off, watching her stand still, looking to the horizon.

But he swore he heard her murmur something as similar to the Rebirth of Chaos.

"…. Tomorrow… Or it's inevitable…"

* * *

"Mister.. Sleeping in broad daylight is bad for you…"

A tiny squeak woke him up. PK grumbled. It was beginning to annoy him that everyone enjoyed waking him up in his naps. Or it was about time he napped somewhere else. He blinked one eye open to see which creature awakened him.

A little grey haired girl stood in front of him quietly. Well, that was his mistake after seeing her by one glance. He gradually got up, staring at her with full curiosity. She had elf-like ears and diamond-shaped eyes that looked all too demonic.

"Wow… You look like someone familiar, you know…" He chuckled lightly, smiling at the innocent yellow eyes she used to stare at him. When he was about to reach her head to pat her, she had retreated away from his touch. Yet she kept that constant stare on him. "… Very like someone I know…"

"… Mister… Don't sleep in the day. Your stomach will hurt."

"No it won't. I'm immortal." He joked lightly, expecting the girl to shine in awe and curiosity. But instead, she just looked at him emotionlessly. It was beginning to feel more awkward on the older man's side.

"Mister, if you're immortal, then have you seen it?" PK was amused that this was her form of playing around. He continued to smile childishly to her.

"Question is, _who _is _it_? Your dog? Your grandpa?"

"Grandark is my sword. Have you seen it?" PK blinked. Now this was a shocker. How does a little girl know about that sword? That sword, if his memories served him right, was one that was crafted by the hands of a wise, old yet great demon. Yet it was too powerful that a wielder had to be specially made as well (But of course, he thought it wasn't as strong as another certain sword of his in his mind).

But to think that a little girl who had suddenly came up to him, with this kind of appearance, asking for the sword was pretty mind-blowing for the older man. He groaned in trouble, looking around the park. There wasn't any child in sight. So she couldn't be playing pretend. And reluctantly, he sighed.

"Kids like you shouldn't deal yourselves with demon swords, you know. They're too heavy and dangerous."

She shook her head. "Grandark… I still need to find him..."

"Mimi!" A worried yowl came from another side of the street. The girl merely blinked before turning away from PK.

"Mister Immortal… We'll meet again…." She muttered before running off towards the sound of the yell. PK blinked, baffled of the situation. But he managed to get himself up and walked to the opposite direction, scratching his neck lazily.

"Ah… Kids these days are definitely troublesome… I don't feel sleepy anymore… How am I supposed to get ready for tonight's fight?" He grumbled to himself, uncaring of the suspicious glares made by the people he passed by. "Damn… I should drop by _his_ place… He ought to know that his sword is being headhunted…"

A snicker seeped out of his lips. "A mini female version too… Hahahah…" He pocketed his hands in glee as he skipped to his destination. But he paused to blink at the familiar feel on an object in his pockets. Digging it out, he saw a pair of red jewelled earrings. Something whispered into his ears.

_'She is the girl that fate favours, living her desired purpose  
Yet she holds the truth you seek to your dark, clouded doubts  
Will you follow her and let her control the world's destiny?  
Or will you deny her and bring damnation to the future?'_

A death-like sigh seeped out of him, very unlike he who was very happy-go-lucky and had admitted to many that he was immortal. How many times has he heard that? After centuries had past, never had he once, forgotten each word of those whisperings into her ears. "Shit… I still need to find _her_ as well… _His_ matters can wait a little longer. It's not like I care about his sword anyways…"

Taking a detour towards the south, he clenched his fist with the earrings. It was about time he dropped by and meet her after so long. He remembered a glimpse of her current self. So similar to the previous Geas. Oh how he wanted to just let her do whatever she wanted, letting her live her choice of living. In any case, she didn't really have any bad intentions that could lead the world to destruction if she followed the destiny given to her. But the thought of her, straying away from him further and further burned his fury as she drifted away from their reality.

Then a glimpse of the past appeared in his mind.

'Goodbye….'

Madness flickered in his heart. "Mari Ming Onnette… Never again…"

* * *

Aisha had a sudden urge to puke, yet she desperately held back her ill stomach. She couldn't just submit to weakness at a time like this. Not after accepting a challenge so brashly. She groaned to herself when she replayed the scene briefly in her mind.

_"Lauren… Now you're just messing with me, aren't you?" The woman growled as she opened up the admin's log to note down the book that was to be borrowed from the library. "Another soul? In me? Like that's real…"_

_"I'm serious!" The man pleaded, leaning over the counter with desperate black eyes. "You have the Battle Mage's soul!"_

_"Battle mage?" Aisha rolled her eyes. "They don't exist in a world that relies on modern technology. And this world we live in now happens to be one."_

_"You can do magic. That's the proof that you're the Battle Mage's host!"_

The librarian frowned at that moment of the memory. How did he know? No one was supposed to know that she, Aisha Grimmoire, could cast spells and create charms, defying the laws of physics. Actually, she defied the laws of science by just creating an energy bomb. But she had stopped years ago, promising to herself never to touch the mystical arts ever again.

Not since the day flames had burned before her.

* * *

"Aisha! Don't! It's too late!"

A voice yowled at her, yet she heard nothing. Not caring of the physical damage that she could suffer, she ran through the fire. Flames had encroached on her skin, yet she remained concentrated on her goal. She had to save her friend.

"Melody! Melody!" She screamed, passing through each corridor, scanning every classroom. "Melody! Where are you?!"

When the heat began to seriously damage her limbs, she casted an ice spell on them to cool it down. Oh how she wished she was strong enough to cast a much stronger ice magic to wipe out the burning flames. Nevertheless, she still pursued on.

"Melody?! Where are you?!"

"H-here!" The croaked voice was interrupted by a series of coughs. Aisha turned immediately to the sound and saw a staggering girl, leaning onto a wall. But her eyes instantly locked onto the leg was badly torn apart, blood oozing out at an alarming rate.

"M-Melody…!" She stuttered at the horrid state of the blue haired girl, approaching her quickly and going straight to her thigh. A light green glow from the lilac haired girl's hand and the wound slowly closed up. "Okay. That's fixed. We should go out now…!"

Pulling her friend over her shoulder, she dragged the girl away from any signs of flames and intense heat. "Damn it.. This is all my fault…" She cursed to herself, desperately trying to locate any means of escaping the blazed school. "If I had just ignored them and didn't make an explosion, none of this wouldn't happen and you wouldn't be trapped here, or even injured in the first place!"

She blamed her brash, childish side of hers that had immaturely accepted the challenge to create a large explosion in the chemistry lab. Just to prove to her fellow classmates her capabilities of actually wielding magic.

"Not.. Yet.. Aisha…" Melody muttered, pointing upwards. "We still got a chance.. Roofto-" The girl chocked onto blood, coughing it out vigorously. The lilac haired girl flinched at the sight of more thick red liquid that overflowed out of her system. Guilt strangled her by her neck, but she tried to ignore it. It wasn't time to feel regrets now. Now was the time to act.

Running upwards was hard, especially when you were dragging something as heavy as yourself, but Aisha didn't care about it. Her senses were beginning to feel hazy and she knew there was lack of oxygen in this blasted burning hell of a place. Taking a slight glance over to her companion, she could see that Melody was taking it more painfully. The rooftop, though an idea created in the spur of the moment, seemed like the most perfect place to run to. The flames shouldn't have reached there yet and fresh air was available. There's also the fact that the fire department could easily reach for them from there.

Slamming the door open, dark clouds spread throughout the skies. Ashes fluttered everywhere and the scent of smoke suffocated them. Aisha dropped down to her knees.

Everything was all in flames as well. The fire had spread too fast. Behind her, she felt intense heat gradually reaching out to her. Lilac eyes merely stared at her friend helplessly. Hands reaching out, Aisha hugged the girl tightly, sobbing hopelessly. "Sorry… Melody… Sorry…. This is all my fault…"

"Aisha… It's… Alright…." The girl comforted her, patting her back weakly yet gently. "This whole time… You've treated me like I was someone important… So it's okay…."

"D-don't say something like that!" Aisha screamed in fear, hearing those words coming out of the older woman. "I'm the one who lead us to this! You can't just forgive me so easily!"

Melody merely smiled at the girl, brushing off her tears feebly. "I will never forget you…."

"Melody…." She whispered her name in admiration to her friend. Her gentleness was too kind. Too forgiving. Dazed before her, Aisha failed to see that her friend had stood up, her legs had stopped shaking.

"…. Please don't forget me, Aisha…"

"H-huh…?!"

"When I wake up again…. I… might not be the same girl you've known…" She muttered softly with an angst smile on her face. "But… Just think of me from time to time…."

"M-melody….?!" Aisha stuttered, unable to render in her mind what was happening. Why was she speaking that way to her? It's as if…. "M-melody… What are you…?!"

A light blue glow shone around the girl, shooting up into the atmosphere. It eradicated the dark hazy smokes that had blocked away the skies. Gradually, clumps of frost formed around. And fell.

"Freeze… Tempest…."

* * *

The woman shuddered, remembering the final glimpse of her companion's smile disappear right before her. She could careless on how Melody was capable of summoning something as grand as a shower of ice. For all she knew, Melody was, as well, enjoyed the mystical arts of magic, and sometimes tried to do her own with the help of science.

It was the fact that Aisha's stupidity in the use of magic had led her into that situation that had sent her to guilt in grief for years. What's more, the beeping sounds of machines that surrounded the blue haired maiden ringed in her ears deathly.

_"I'm afraid there's nothing else that can be done. She's in a deep state of sleep and there's no way to wake her up…"_

Those very words destroyed her. She succumbed into the darkness, away from the light of society. She ripped apart every close connection she had with anyone and lived in isolation, wiping out her very existence and her magic.

'… I don't want anything like that to happen again…' She thought, taking a glance up to the man who walked in front of her. 'So if he can remove this soul inside of me… This Battle Mage and her abilities to do magic… Then no one can suffer the same fate as Melody…'

* * *

"Last night, I tried it Mari." Elaine grumbled through her meat-filled mouth. The teacher beside her warned her to speak not with a full mouth so she stopped. After finishing her meal, she cleared her throat. "I mean, I tried to link my dream world with yours, Mari. But it didn't work."

Mari blinked at the girl after she stopped slurping her giant milkshake. "I think it's not impossible, but it'll be hard for you to do so, Elaine." When three pair of eyes looked at her with confusion, she rolled her dual coloured eyes. Nevertheless, they were the kind of eyes she had longed to see after so many years. "Dreams are where it should reveal everything about one's self, one's conscious, one's spiritual mind. This includes our desires, our nightmares and the truth to who we really are. So it's not really surprising if Elaine couldn't connect with my own world."

"Why is that?"

"… Neither she nor Elesis weren't that close to me in the first place." She said bluntly. "It's like… I believe that Arme was my most close companion, so it could be that involuntarily, my dreams are only open to hers."

"I guess that's understandable, but how would you know?" Rolan asked next to her, curious of his ex-classmate for a year. She was different than what he could recall from his clumps of his memory as a student. She was more reserved, staring into space and mumbling on to herself, reading some thick and strange book and cared nothing of anyone else

'Ah… That's the Mari I know…' The Abyss Knight chuckled. 'She didn't really like it if we disturbed her when she was studying. But it didn't mean she was aloof. She had her own way of being friendly….'

The teacher grunted in understanding to the soul inside of him as he stared at the blue haired woman's reply. She had decided to take another long sip of her milkshake before she replied to him. "I had a brief contact with Sieghart once."

"Sieghart? When you say that, do you mean tha-"

"THAT OLD MAN OF A PERVERT?!" Elaine shouted as she stood in anger, callous to the world around her who stared at her in shock of her sudden outburst. She recalled the black haired man who just popped into the changing room once, who had suddenly pulled her soul out of its neutral state and enabled her to awaken the saviour within her. But he just had to do it when she was changing!

In any case, the student knew that there was only one man in the Sieghart family who was only referred to as 'Sieghart'. He was, as said by her father, a master gladiator of Kanavan who's achievements in battle was told in history books again and again. Even she had seen his name every once in a while in her textbooks! He was a man who brought a great shine to the Sieghart family name. And after that, legend had told the tale of his miraculous revival after a sudden battle of the world, becoming an immortal who watched over the world. And she had the utmost respect to him.

That is, until Elesis came into her life and told her the true nature of this 'Sieghart'. Not only did she discover he had once been part of the Grand Chase, he was also a lazy ass who loved being the arrogant bastard he was and showed off his skills far too many times. He was also a man who looks down on the weak in a challenge and played with them whenever they gave their all. But in some cases, when provoked correctly by certain people he hated, he can snap into a killing machine because of his (unreasonably) short temper which they all called his 'rage mode'.

Not only that, he moves around so nonchalantly, he doesn't care about the other party's privacy, business and whatsoever. At first, Elaine couldn't believe it until the saviour pointed out how he'd selfishly sneaked up on her whilst she was changing, got unbelievably close to her, without a care for personal space and left her in a daze with no explanation whatsoever.

"… Yes. I'm afraid that the legendary man you all thought isn't really what you think." Mari sighed heavily. "So even in this era he acts so inconsiderately…"

"How did you do it?! I've been trying to do it for ages! And nothing happens!" She roared, still uncaring to the people around her. The teacher tried to calm the red head down, but Mari stopped him with the wave of a hand.

"Elesis, you don't need to come out so suddenly and vent out your anger towards your great grandfather so suddenly. We can just talk, right?" The woman waved her hand down. Automatically, she sat and glared at the Geas. Rivera and Rolan merely stared at the power of the words that the Geas had, calming down the saviour. And she knew the exact moment she popped out!

Then again, there was a spark inside the eyes of the high school girl that told them otherwise. One that contrasted with the usual shine of those crimson eyes. Spontaneously, the two idle men concluded that the glint in the eyes could show whether the ancient hero had forced themselves to the outside world.

"How did you make a link with Sieghart…?"

"_Brief_ contact." She reminded. "I didn't really know what specifically happened but I just saw him, wandering around my dreams… He told me he'll see me soon in the real world when it's time and… It's been 8 years since then... I tried to contact him but…" Mari turned away in disappointment.

"So in that situation, Sieghart's kept his dreams in a lock down, not letting anyone near it until he decides it's time…." Rolan assumed, trying to fit one thing with another. Next to him, the orange haired student nodded in understanding (Well, it seemed like he understood).

"Yes. A possible reason he's getting harder to track down in these recent years…" Mari sighed heavily this time. "A more ground reason is that he seems to enjoy running off to who knows where, and as usual, does whatever he wants in his pace. My guardian and I had tried our very best at searching for him, in case we needed his immortality, but it's really tough to try and track him down."

"He still thinks he can enjoy that carefree immortal life of his, eh?" Elesis slammed the table with her fists in anger. "That man…. I'll kill him for sure…"

* * *

"Riku! Why are you sleeping there!?" A yowl shocked the man from his nap as he immediately rose up from his sleeping position. Books fell from his face, leaving him to startle in front of a little blond girl he called his sister.

"Gisella?! What are you doing here?!"

"She was with me." A low growl came from behind her and an ominous shady man crept up, glowering at him death-like. "We heard some mutterings and heard it was you, idiot…."

"Idi-?! Who the heck are yo-" Riku silenced himself at the sight of a scythe next to the purple haired man. Was this the _friend _that Gisella's been hanging out with all this time at the graveyard?! And he thought it was just some helpless little girl who had lost someone dear and kept returning to the graveyard for some peace. Obviously, that was his mistake to imagine something so unrealistic.

The instincts of a brother soon kicked in the blond man and grabbed the girl He kept her under the safety of his arm and posed an offensive stance before the other. "Gisella…. Why are you with him…?"

"We're looking for the librarian, but she's not around."

"Not the reason I'm looking for…."

"Oh," She peeped. "He's my friend."

"Still not the reason I'm looking for…"

"She doesn't need a reason to follow me." The man grumbled, lowering his scythe to Riku's neck level. "You were here the whole time, so where do you think the librarian went?"

Yet Riku remained calm, still glowering his gold eyes to the purple one. He gave no answer and simply backed away with his sister.

"Riku.." A small whine came from the petite girl. She looked up to him with her own green eyes that shined beautifully even in the darkness of the library. Now after this, a flinch was visible from the blond and a reluctant sigh could be heard.

"Damn it... That's not being fair.. You have a scythe and she has those cute eyes. How am I supposed to win in this situation?!" Riku yowled as he let go of his sister, collapsing onto his bottom with exhaustion. "Well… I kind of heard something to do with the Western Ranges District. Not that far from where we are but.. She could at least let me out after I got out…."

"So you've been sleeping here since…?"

"Yeap. The library's pretty cool when it's deserted. You know, some of the books glow in the dark and-"

"I'm going to the Western Ranges…." The man simply ignored the rest of his conversation and shifted away. Seeing this, Gisella picked herself up and rushed after him, not forgetting to wave a goodbye to her bewildered brother.

* * *

"ELESIS!" He screamed, reaching out to her frail body before it collapsed to the ground. But it was to no avail as another pair of hands grabbed on to her, taking full impact of her crash. The Abyss Knight kept his pained groan in the back of his throat, immediately looking at the Saviour's condition.

"She'll be fine." He gasped in relief when his palm had touched her neck. "But we need to retreat… She's used too much of her energy today."

"Aye. I have to agree on that." Dusk Bringer ran towards them, launching a lance form the sky down to his enemies that trailed after him. On his back, a battle mage was moaning in irk, her legs were paralyzed. "With this kid here, our main source of health, immobilized and a sitting duck, I don't think we'll be fighting much longer today."

"Right… Rally up the rest of the Chasers. Sieghart, can you be our Vanguard as we retreat?" The Abyss Knight asked, picking up the saviour in his hands. Of course he agreed to it. He was, one, immortal, and two, a great tanker. The Prime Knight nodded, but he didn't leave immediately.

"Ronan. Keep an eye on my great granddaughter." Blue eyes blinked at the responsibility given to him by the running immortal. The Prime Knight trusted him, despite having a sense of detest to him whenever he was close to the red head. But he had no choice. A person like him would definitely give up his life for her.

One by one, each Grand Chaser took note of the new plan and withdrew themselves from the battle. The Prime Knight still rushed around, ensuring no monsters dared to tailgate on his allies. He'd even let himself be bait momentarily, only to unleash a terrifying roar that blasted every monster to oblivion.

"Mari! Get out of here! We have to retreat!" He screamed at the sight of the Geas, still swinging around her arm and destroying everything in her path.

"We have to press on! We are nearly there!" Surprised at the decision of the girl who was usually a pacifist, he rammed every opponent that separated him from her. As he got closer, he felt that strange feeling he had last night, that suspicion on her grew.

Her eyes were glowing too differently, almost too dangerously.

But it didn't stop him from grabbing her by her arm forcefully and dragging her away from the world of fighting. "MARI! OUT! NOW!"

"NO!" She screamed, soul takers launched around her violently and fired lasers upwards. Magic residue then rained down everyone around her, dissipating them all. She glared at the Prime Knight, showing her seriousness to all this. "We end this battle today."

Of course with that strength, he'd loved to follow her onwards. But for how long can she last? And looking at her now, she was batted and worn out as well. And how many times can she cast that powerful skill?

The odds were against them. And he couldn't risk it. The sight of losing her once more.

"I'm sorry, Mari." The Prime Knight muttered, jabbing a fist up into her stomach lightly. After seeing her collapse so easily after a very, soft punch (He swore, he'd rather call it a gentle push instead!), he grabbed her body and dashed off after his companions.

As he ran, he wondered what the Geas was trying to do. Why was she that desperate to push forward? To the point she'd work herself until she was dead exhausted no less. But questions like that could be saved until she was awake. He glanced around the battlefield once more. There were no more familiar faces. Everyone had retreated.

When he ran, he thought he heard a sad whimper in the midst of war cries and the warm trickle of water on his blood stained body.

"The Rebirth of Chaos… It's inevitable now…."

* * *

PK shook his head of that memory, watching the sun slowly setting in the far end of the world as he scratched his head. He knew it had been ages since that day, but, he remembered it all clearly like it had happened yesterday.

BUMP

"Eh?" He blinked blankly at the sight of lilac hair. A woman, around her twenties, was on her bottom and groaning in pain. PK leaned down, reaching out his hand to her. "Sorry there, I wasn't looking."

"It's okay." She replied, yet she didn't take his hand and independently got up herself. Now he blinked once more. This woman was another familiar face. "Sorry. I need to catch up with my friend."

"W-wait!" PK yowled, grabbing onto her arm. She flinched at his grip; her eyes stared at him with anger. But he overlooked at that anger and saw fear as well. Loosening his grip, but not enough to let her go, he sighed. "Um… If you're here, then… This isn't Dragon Park… Is it..?"

"No… This isn't. It's the Western Range District…" She stuttered uncomfortably. But her glare to him lessen at the sight of the grown man whine.

"Ah man..! I went the wrong way again! I'm never travelling around by train!" He cursed at those infernal mechanisms. He was already used to walking around after centuries. He knew doing something different was a bad idea. Why did he even bother using them? In any case, he had decided to hated those things after he had boarded a death train himself, and felt regret he didn't leave a certain Dusk Bringer behind.

"Um… What did you mean by… 'If you're here'…?" The woman hesitantly asked, her other hand was twitching oddly. The black haired man saw that stance. It was similar to a certain battle mage's habit. Whenever she wanted to deal some firepower, she'd twitched her hand before casting the ball of fire towards anyone.

Strangely enough, he recalled an incident that happened just a few years ago that was reported on the newspaper.

_[A Child Arsonist destroyed Anyu Tower Middle School - Serdin]_

He recalled that the girl who created the flames had run away from the site immediately. She was seen visiting one of the crucial victims of her arson, one who was believed to be her closest friend, and after that, disappeared from the face of the earth.

But it was by mere coincidence, that PK had seen her wandering around the streets of his favourite park in the dead of night, just days after that news was published to the world. She was weak and staggering, but her will to survive was strong, almost shining in the darkness.

At first sight, he knew who she was.

_'If you want to die, then go somewhere else.'_

He recalled saying something as harsh as that. But it was merely to test her.

_'…. I need to live…. My best friend… Told me to remember her…. I need to live to remember her…'_

After hearing that, he figured only one person could say something like that. PK remembered guiding that lilac haired girl to the Northern Territory, and after some negotiations, he gave her a job that she could do in her time of living. A librarian.

'To think she grew up to become a cold person…' He groaned, looking back into the glower of the lilac haired woman. PK let her arm go, smiling at her. He was partially at fault. He didn't do much as to help her recover from her shock after that incident psychologically (Besides, he knew he was bad at things like that). In any case, he was rushing at that time.

He wanted to see her _friend_, having a guess that it could be_ her_.

"Aisha! It's just a bit more until we reach the place!" A shout from the end of the street made them realize that she was in a hurry and he was stopping her. PK nodded and gave her a smile, looking at the direction of their travels.

"The shrine of the dead, huh?" He muttered darkly. He recalled that very area was used to be the land they used to call the Forsaken Barrows. But for the sake of progress, the government tried to purify the land. Yet it was to no avail. So instead, they decreased the intensity of the darkness by creating a shrine that eased the land.

People began calling it the Shrine of the Dead not because it was built in the middle of the barrows, but because they have seen the dead walking around. And rumours say that one can 'delete' or put to death a curse from that area…

"Well, don't do anything hasty, alright." He grinned with a childish smile, but PK still had her glaring at him. "Hm… If this is the Western Range… Then Mari should be waiting South of here…."

"Mari?!" The woman yelped immediately, a slight tone of hope entwined in the core of her yelp.

"Ah. She's a friend of mine." PK waved and dashed away, not hearing another word of the lilac haired woman's pleads. "Bye."

He didn't really had time to deal himself with that woman now. He knew she was already alright by herself, and the battle mage within her would do her fine. Besides, he remembered that he had come across a person who had the same demonic aura as his long life rival in this area of Kanavan. With him around, their awakenings should be fine.

"…. Mari? Why did I use that name?" He mumbled to himself. "I've confused myself with their names again… That girl knows Melody, not Mari…" He stopped, thinking of his sentence. "_Knew_…. She _knew_ Melody…"

PK then heard the shouts of a man from another street. He wasn't curious enough to stop and check it out, but enough to take a glance instead.

A blond man was chasing a little blond girl helplessly. And that girl was running with a heavy book in her hand, after a purple haired man with a scythe in his hand. PK sighed. "To think that brat was closer that I thought…"

He decided to take a path southwards that was slightly further away from them.

* * *

"Lauren… I don't think I'll be doing this…" Aisha stuttered, standing hesitantly in front of the shrine's entrance. It was dark, gloomy and it gave her chills. The librarian had suddenly her stomach backflip after her little encounter with that black haired man.

He was a mere stranger. Yet she felt that she knew him from somewhere.

She blamed on the fact that he looked a tad handsome. Maybe she had seen him somewhere in the papers or a magazine or somewhere. But there was another reason that made her feel like she had seen him before; she just couldn't put her finger on it.

And that name he mentioned. Mari. Clearly it was one she had never come across before, yet she knew that name from somewhere. Because strangely enough, the image of Melody came to her mind. Was there a connection between them? Was Melody still alive?

The girl did say that she might not be the same girl she knew…. Those words rang into her ears countless of times. At first, it was usually something that gave her nightmares and haunted her very existence. But then… This time… She felt a little relieved instead…

"You're going to back out now?" The man whined, touching gently the altar that sat quietly in the middle of the shrine. "And after all these years, you had to keep a distance with society so you wouldn't see anyone that was close to you sharing the same fate as Melody…."

Aisha backed away slightly. "How do you know about her?! No one else knew about Melody's condition! I made sure that every piece of information linking myself and her were gone and- And-!" The grey eyes of the man glowed deathly at her.

"Of course, you couldn't destroy memories, can you? I mean, the only people who knew that Melody was in there was you and that child who mocked you into making that explosion."

A devilish smile drew out the colours out of the librarian's face. Behind her, the dead rose up from the ground. One by one, skeletons and zombies groaned out of the dirt, all staring at her. Yet Aisha could only stare at that smirk which faded away behind a mask.

"… It was you…."

* * *

"WHERE THE HELL DID THESE CREATURES COME FROM?!" The undertaker screamed in rage, slicing off every head, skull, brain and whatever seemed like the cranium of a monster.

"You mean they weren't yours?!" Riku yowled, punching every skeleton that came near him as well as protecting his sister in his arms.

"I HATE THE UNDEAD!" Dirge yowled back, slamming his hand down instantly. A dark circle appeared out of nowhere above him and a gigantic spear formed itself. It then fell and crashed onto the monsters in front of him mercilessly, with flesh and bones flying everywhere.

It was of course, ironic, to see that an undertaker like himself, who practices the dark arts and takes care of a graveyard 24/7, actually hates to see the zombies and skeletons walking around freely in reality. But who could blame him? Dirge just had this sudden urge to despise the undead madly.

They refuse to let go of life and deny their fates that was death. They reject their destiny to move on to the next world and continue to live a lie in the reality that they exist now. With a life like that, of course he saw them as cowards who were pathetic enough to run away from the truth.

"I just hate those who can't die!" He screamed, pulling the lance out of the ground and ramparted around violently, destroying everything in his path. Dirge then threw it, piercing a couple more monsters in the process and continued to hack and slash everything in his path.

All they were doing is wander around the Western Range District, in hope to see the librarian. And suddenly undead creatures suddenly popped out of nowhere and surrounded them. Dirge was just pissed because of their unwelcomed meeting.

"Dirge! Watch out!" The purple haired man heard a shriek and retracted back his scythe, instantly defending himself from what seemed like a torn apart axe of a zombie orc. He merely spat at it and shoved it away with sheer force, ripping its face apart with his bare left hand.

"Was that it?" He laughed mockingly, glaring at every monster around him deathly. "Is that what you pathetic creatures have? Well, I will destroy you all, and leave not a trace behind….!"

"Dirge!" The girl shouted once more, so the man reacted with his scythe. But he was surprised to see numerous glowing pumpkins instead, all floating towards him. "Dirge! Those things are explosive!"

"What?! Explosive undeads?!" He took a step back, trying to configure a counter attack to those things. On the other hand, she couldn't take it anymore. Gisella struggled out of the grip of her brother's hand and launched herself away from him and towards the undertaker. Her hands began to glow in a radiant green glow. Out of nowhere, light shined around them brightly, blinding them of the entire dark world around them. Screams of pain and agony of monsters pierced their ears and faded away quickly. And gradually the light dimmed, revealing a barren, empty land.

Two pairs of eyes merely stared at the blond little girl in awe.

**Chapter 7 - End**

* * *

I feel happy recently.  
Because two days ago, it was the release of Zero's 4th job. And man does he looks.. Mmmm... I guess cute? His shades are really _eye-catching_.  
But if there was an option to be able to change his mask, I'd love to keep his first job mask :)  
And what made my day extremely happy was that I found out today in two weeks, NAGC is getting Zero's 3rd job XD My dream to reach cap level with him shall be fulfilled!

And happiness = My inspiration = Faster writing of Fanfics

So... The plot thickens! Mari?! What have you done to anger the immortal?!  
Most of the story today kind of revolves around Mari and Arme, I guess. A little about the past Grand Chase (which yes, I regret to say, I made up... I didn't really want to make it up but it seemed tempting... *shot*), a little about Arme and Mari together... Stuff like that :p  
And the scene with Elaine, Rivera, Rolan and Mari is still the same as the last one. They're still in the food court and eating.  
Sieghart hates trains. Yes. He doesn't like the modern world toys, does he? Well, mostly he regrets not leaving Dio on the Underworld Express  
Likewise, Dio hates the undead. Mostly because there was this certain guy who will never die and he has to put up with his idiocy... :D  
Mimi... Pfft... She's someone I've been dying to write about... And most other things explain themselves on the story...

Btw, I'm so glad to hear everyone's favorite characters to play with. It's really interesting to see everyone's opinion and I kind of feel like I should really utilize each characters fully. Ironically, I'm usually into DPS characters, and my most favorite is a tanker... - Well, his case was different so nuff said...

Which reminds me. Yes, Haruka-chan. I don't really mind if you posted the pic up in the forum. It is the decision of the fans to spread the popularity of the story. I just write it. -w-" though, just for anyone's information, I would definitely rather not see this story reposted somewhere else (that's a big NO from me). Cause I'm possessive by nature and I like to see my stories under my supervision and not in someone else's.  
I think most authors would understand me... Or I'm just weird... owo" Oh well.

But that fanart you speak off is a different case since it was crappily drawn by me and it wasn't even properly finished... I'm lame at drawing, nuff said...

Alright people. Have a nice day~!


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 - The Title here was Destroyed by the Story's Destruction...**

"Gisella! Gisella, wake up!"

"Shut up, idiot!" A snarl startled him as he brought his sleeping sister closer to him defensively. He saw the undertaker glowering at him with irk, his hand gripping his scythe irritably. "You'll attract more undeads if you're that noisy and put every one of us in danger."

"Sorry…" The blond sighed, staring at his sister. She had fallen into a deep slumber after she had suddenly used some sort of light magic that had protected the three of them. He had never seen her do such a thing, let alone be in any particular roles that required any drastic actions. Gisella had been a passive person from his knowledge.

"Stay." Riku looked up to see that the undertaker had snarled angrily at a direction. When his eyes followed that bearing, he saw an old temple, and to his dismay, there were more undead creatures lingering about it the area, lusting for blood and flesh.

On the other hand, the man that stood next to him had bloodlust flashing in his eyes. To some extent, it scared the blond. At the same, it fascinated him as there was a certain flair that burned around him that he felt he had known for years, that only one person – a demon – would've possessed. His left hand twitched achingly, desiring flesh to rake into deeply.

The pain throbbing inside of the undertaker's hand had started and was growing by the second. Dirge couldn't help but hiss terribly, but only at a low frequency as he would never let anyone hear the pain he was going through. He only knew that when the sight of monsters came to his field of vision, he wanted nothing more than to kill them. Obliterate them into nothingness. Cast utter destruction upon then.

It had been that sole reason, he remembered, that had forced him out of his home. The Steamrift family weren't a famed family, generally. It wasn't even known in Bermessiah. But in was one of the best in the world of exorcism.

Yes. The man whom loved destruction came from a family of famed exorcists.

He remembered every single day that went by; lectured on and on by his elders, training vigorously on offence and defence against ghosts and spirits, purifying the dark corruption into innocent hearts, guiding those souls back to where they were once from. Yes, he recalled the last bit well.

Through everyone's eyes, an exorcist will eliminate all evil spirit and so on and so forth and whatever crap Dirge could think of. But those were just fantasies that are implanted to everyone, him included. But when to an age where he finally saw something amiss – to be exact, he was still a disciple of the arts of exorcism and soon to be a full-pledge - he began to look away from the path of an exorcist.

They do not kill nor exterminate ghosts. They guide them back to their own world. And it sickened the man. Why leave them living where they could return once more into their world and terrorize us once more when they could wipe them out of the face of every worlds?!

Dirge grunted, shaking his head. He had sworn he would never touch that chapter of his life. He was a free man now; he needed not to care about the past. After clearing his head of history, replacing it with the present, the undertaker ran towards the temple, leaving the two blond siblings.

* * *

Aisha blinked her eyes open and saw the paradise of books once more. She groaned in angst, having a painful headache as she tried to get up onto her feet. Her fingers tapped onto books in the bookshelves and the force she used to get up pulled them down. As they collapsed, she looked around drearily, trying to remember how she had gotten herself into this world as she couldn't remember even going into this world.

She gently closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Her mind slowly dimmed into darkness as she emptied her mind of everything that was jumbled in her head. After feeling relaxed, she concentrated on what had happened.

A blurry vision appeared in her head, another world she recognized as the real world, and to be specific, an old stone temple that people would call the Shrine of the Dead. The image of a man wisped in the centre of the room, sitting on the shrine's altar proudly. With one smirk, he sent her shivering with fear. Her legs felt weak so she collapsed. Her body felt paralyzed so she couldn't move.

And with the blink of an eye, she saw that the man had his flesh burned away, leaving only bones. His skeletal fingers rolled out of his long sleeves, with a peculiar looking mask which he had proceeded in fixing it over his skull. A wooden staff had grew out from the darkness before him and he wielded it.

_"Have a good long rest, Battle Mage."_

She groaned in angst at the thought of what happened afterwards as she could see nothing but a flash of lightning and darkness consuming her, bringing her into this world of dreams and paradise. So she had fainted, she thought, by some skeletal looking man who could, as well, use magic. Her stomach churned in discomfort at the thought of her body in the real world, unconscious and at the mercy of some twisted freak who wanted her dead.

But why let her sleep instead? Was he going to torture her with nightmares instead? Everything seemed believable to her up to this point, but she just couldn't understand why, especially the last part. Why was she called the Battle Mage instead? Or was he going to remove her soul from this world as he promised?

She shook her head. There was no way she was leaving the Battle Mage's soul in the hands of some undead mutant who had destroyed her life once.

She needed to get out of this world fast.

But that wasn't something she was too worried about. Aisha had always known how to escape the dream world, after reading thousands of books in the library. Though, she admits, there were numerous times she had decided to stay in this world a little longer, to keep herself in solitude a little longer. But she knew now that there was someone she was looking forward to meeting in the outside world. 'A little shock in the dream world should do the trick…'

Aisha grabbed onto a shelf and started to climb. As much as she hated disrespecting the resting places of these books, she had to put feelings aside. This world was but a dream world for now. Nothing mattered. What mattered more was the girl in reality. "… Mari or Melody or whatever… I need to see her…"

At the top of the bookshelf, she sighed. Her physical strength had never been one she was proud of, but enough to carry her of there. Standing tall now, she looked down. The bookshelf was as high as the rest of them in this so-called Nirvana of Knowledge – about two, maybe more, storeys high and enough to kill oneself if falling from this height.

"Here goes nothing…" She muttered, letting her weight pull her down to the hard ground. She knew that facing death on like this would definitely shock her back into reality, as she had done much more of this before. Her stomach began to feel queasy at the sight of the ground coming towards her closer. She winced away at the sight, her arms covering herself to brace for impact, despite the fact she knew she would never feel pain in this world.

"Are you sure you'd like to leave? We have just started…" Her body shivered in fear just hearing a dreadful voice whispering into her ear. Her eyes snapped open and she saw herself falling into an endless pit. The books around her fell as well into no end. And floating around her was that same masked skeleton, laughing at her maniacally.

"What the hell is your problem, you twisted freak?!" Aisha demanded as she screamed furiously at him.

"Miss Aisha Grimmoire… You are the keeper of the soul of Arme Glenstid, the Battle Mage of the Grand Chase. The woman I have come to loathe and despise for dispelling me from this world." He hissed, gripping onto his wooden staff tightly. A spark of lightning zapped around it, ready to be fired to its next victim. "So what better way to return the favour by presenting you an endless nightmare?"

"Then shouldn't you just bring it with her?! I have nothing to do with this!"

"On the contrary, Miss Aisha… You are the exact replica of that bloody woman." He chuckled, those finger bones tapped her cheeks lightly. But Aisha hostily growled at his touch and threw his arm away from being near her. He merely laughed more. "Except… With more spice… I shall enjoy watching you suffer in misery…"

He disappeared into the darkness. Aisha looked down and noticed how much thorns and blades were waiting down there, ready to pierce her body relentlessly.

* * *

"PK!" The man stopped on his tracks. He looked around and saw a red head below him, running towards him. "What the hell are you doing up there?!"

He blinked, looking around him. There were roofs, and telephone poles and trees and pretty much things you don't see on the ground. Well, he had always loved heights, as it brought him one step closer to the free sky above him. But as he stared down, he saw concern in the gold eyes of the red head.

"Alright, alright… I'll come down…" PK said as he jumped from the roof he was on and towards the street brawler. Landing on his feet seemed to have impressed the red head that it amused him. Then again, no one in this day and age would so such crazy stunts. "So, what'cha want, Leo?"

"Well, we've got a match tonight. Are you coming?"

"…" PK groaned. He was more interested in meeting Mari, after centuries of being apart. Then again, she was stuck in Kanavan after Dragon Park's Station got demolished. But the possibilities of her using those flying things (Were they called airplanes? He didn't give a damn for them if trains were annoying enough). "Alright… I'll come."

"Alright. We win this one and we're in the semi-finals." Leo yelped happily, his fists tightened in enthusiasm. It was this kind of carefree smiles that the older man missed that he couldn't help but ruffle the other's head. Though he had to wonder, what drove the man into a dangerous street brawl? Well, the prize money was tempting. And fighting against the top three street fighters to get the title of Street King of Kanavan was pretty much an honourable victory.

But he knew that the red head seemed to hide more than just that. On the other hand, his mind had told him to keep out of this, as he could feel it had to do with personal feelings.

"Oh by the way. PK, do you have a cell phone?"

PK had nearly said 'What's a cell phone' when he had heard the red head ask him. Thank the gods he had bit his tongue before he said anything. He had immediately remembered that it was those squarish small objects that people use to communicate with others without meeting one another. In his honest opinion, it was a nuisance as he didn't feel comfortable talking to some little box. "Ehh… I don't really have one."

"Ah… Well, it's kind of hard to reach you…" Leo whined – if he had puppy ears and tail, they would be drooping down. But it would be then patted lightly.

"Don't worry. We're closer than you think."

* * *

Meanwhile, Mari was tapping hastily on her smart phone, one that seemed to impress her three companions. It amused to her that they were marvelled at the technology it possessed – she could imagine how fascinated her ancient companions would be inside their respective bodies. To her it seemed very mediocre compared to the mechanisms she had once built back when the Grand Chase was still together.

'No', she thought, 'The Grand Chase is still together… Just not at the same place…'

"Well, now I've got every one of your phone numbers. It'll be easier for us to communicate one another when we are not asleep." She said, taking off her glasses and fixing on her beanie. She had noticed that the guys seemed less comfortable at her mini transformation. Truthfully, even she admitted that she seemed to have decreased their self-esteem. But has she been the kind to feel sympathy so easily? No, and certainly she won't be feeling it any time soon. Besides, Elaine seemed to find it cool.

"So the plan is that I'll try to recreate our weapons with some of my connections here, Rivera will be using his transforming abilities to track down the rest of the Grand Chasers and Rolan does research on our past to find out who exactly is our enemy, right?" She confirmed once more. Both men nodded after her.

"H-hey? What about me?" Elaine stuttered with confusion, noticing that her name was not called out.

"Sorry Elaine. We've got to consider that you're underage." The teacher said, ignoring the glare she gave him. "You might have a saviour as your ancestor, but it doesn't mean you are one already in this era."

The three adults seemed to have noticed both the anger the red head and the saviour inside her, as she spat furiously to them all. True, they felt unfair that she, the self-proclaimed leader of the Grand Chase (they didn't really object to her leadership anyways). But she was a teenager in this world, and teens were still under the supervision of their respective guardians. Though they did know that back then, Elesis was still a sixteen year old when she journeyed with the other two first Grand Chasers, this was a different matter as they were in a different era, with different conditions.

"Well then, I'm going home first then!" Furious at their judgment, she marched off towards the nearest station. Rolan couldn't help but sigh, seeing as she was going into her rebellious stage. He knew that the abyss knight inside him was groaning as well, watching the red head upset.

"I'll go after her." The teacher blinked in surprise when Rivera immediately volunteered, giving them a quick wave as he kept his eyes on the girl. And unwillingly, he had reached out to the elf's arm.

"Why?"

Rivera blinked at him with confusion. "Cause I live near her?" He replied bluntly and ran after the storming high school girl when his arm was released. The teacher himself was confused at how he had restrained the man from following after her, staring at his own hand. On the side lines, Mari sighed.

"Ronan.. Do keep your personal feelings aside as you may endanger your current self." She muttered darkly, watching the two figures of red and orange disappear from her sight into the crowds.

"What?"

"Nothing," Mari suddenly smiled at him, patting his back. "Come on. You're going back to my hotel."

"E-eh?!"

"We did agree I'll be staying at your place, right? I mean it's at Centerpoint of Kanavan, everything will be easier to access. And I won't be spending money on expensive hotels."

"I don't reme-ACK!" Rolan was then forcefully pulled by the ear towards a shopping district, where the girl had said her hotel was. He felt a tang of regret for agreeing to this.

* * *

The Hellish spear rampaged through lines of enemies, forcing itself towards the lone shrine which those monsters protected. Without losing another second, Dirge had followed after his spear, slashing every other survivors of the spear mercilessly with his Soul Reaver. He knew that the sole reason to these infernal lowlifes were at the heart of the temple – where else can he find reason in this deserted district anyways?!

Dirge paused as he climbed up a step to the temple (he did not like the word flinch as it sounded weak). Feeling a strange presence from the top, he instantly snarled in ferocity, amethyst eyes glowered in anger. Years of being an exorcist disciple had given him the instinct to recognize every kind of aura that each spirit let out. And he knew exactly what stood in front of him, despite ever facing one in his life.

"Liche. An undead corpse that comes in the form of a powerful magician of the dark arts. Another annoying prick who leads an army of pathetic imbecile." The undertaker snorted, gripping his scythe tightly. This was one of the few moments he felt he was a little gratitude for being taught the ways of exorcism. Then again, it all comes down to the same thing. They all do no good and should be destroyed.

"So here comes another Grand Chaser… Dio Burning Canyon, was it?" The Lich hissed, his staff pointed towards the purple haired man. "I see you have initiated your awakening, but it has yet to finish-!"

"R.I.P. YOU BASTARD!" Without letting the undead finish his sentence, Dirge had launched himself right in front of the undead with his scythe at the ready. Twisting himself, he slashed everything around him, sending the lich flying towards the innards of the temple. Dirge treasured his satisfaction, despite it being but a blinking moment as he chased after his target. "And when I mean R.I.P, I meant to rest in pain…"

True, he was slightly curious of what the lich had to say to him, about this 'Dio Burning Canyon'. He was already searching for that bloody librarian for the answers that may concern him. After all, he had found some scripts from her desk about the guy's family and its trade mark weapon being the rake hand. And he linked it directly to that man- no.. he was an Asmodian demon – who had a similarly described claw in his left arm. He was also interested in what the lich had said, about how Dirge had initiated some sort of awakening which have yet to be finish.

But who was he to control himself when there was but an evil spirit there, waiting to be raked mercilessly into nothingness?

Besides, he played enough games to think quickly enough to make his own conclusions. 'Rake hand must be that guy's massive claw. And the reason to this irritating pain in my own left arm. It belongs to the Burning Canyon. Liche just called me Dio Burning Canyon who hasn't finished waking up. Since that guy keeps telling me to release him, then that guy must be Dio. QED, I have Dio inside of me and I haven't fully awakened him up.'

Dirge smirked. He knew games were useful for the brain.

Though, that meant that he had the soul of a demon in him, the very creature that the exorcists have dedicated themselves in fighting against as they were believed that those creatures who became the bridge that links the evil spirits into Aernas.

"… No wonder I didn't like the way that exorcists worked…." Dirge grunted to himself. He knew that the morals of a demon would've been completely opposite to that of an average human. They loved mischief and mayhem in the air and stuff like that. "This Dio person must have influenced me into becoming like this…"

The undertaker simply shrugged. "It seems much fun to play as the bad guy than some freaky angel…"

But the man hesitated once more when he had set foot inside the temple – yes, this time, he will admit that he had hesitated - because he witnessed something he had never seen before which had caught him off guard.

Tendrils in the shape of a great oak, with dying vines and thorns hanging down grew in the temple. Branches suffocating in the small room had selfishly destroyed the temple's ceilings and walls and grew through the holes it had made. A glow of purple light seemed to surround this huge and dead plant. And entwined in the tree's heart, was a dying woman.

* * *

Aisha screamed as the pain stabbed in her again and again. With each thorn, stabbing through her, she felt her life draining slowly, her strength leaving her. Yet she dared not to give up. Her hands reached out to anything that could stop her from falling deeper into this abyss, even the books that fell with her.

She had reached out to one of them and it had opened up to yet another page, filled with words she couldn't understand, let alone read. They were in those funny looking language that 'Lauren' had said belonged to those demons of Elyos. So does that mean that there were such things as demons? She shook her head; it wasn't the time to ponder about it.

'Maybe I might not be able to read it, but it doesn't mean I can just give up. I'll have to find any small clue in this everything!'

Though she was stabbed mercilessly, she didn't care. Something. Anything! She needed some sort of hint.

Ironic enough, she heard a silent lullaby whispered into her ears, despite the angst shrieks she had made.

_'She seizes every single day relentlessly, Dear Battle Mage,  
As she will overwhelm every one of her opponents without fail,  
For she is the Violet Mages Guild's pride, their true leader,  
Showing her authority upon her people with her gentle kindness,  
And with her honesty, she ties everyone together tightly,  
Treasuring her friends, she will do everything, even devastation.'_

She recalled the previous lyrics. That only the Battle Mage could read everything in here. Aisha immediately shook her head. There was no way she could ever become one, especially in such short notice. She knew what it means to be a Battle Mage, after reading thousands of books, with a huge portion of it concerning the fantasy world that was once believed to be ancient Aernas.

A Battle Mage was the highest position in the Violet Mages Guild and the only way to achieve that was to have been recognized by the superiors of the efforts she has put into doing something noble. But there were major flaws. The Violet Mages Guild, or more known as Serdin's Royal Mages Court, does not exist in this era and she has yet to do anything worthy enough to be called a Battle Mage.

Besides, Battle Mages had magic as their tools of war. She could never bring herself to wielding those dark arts once more. Not after that incident.

She knew this from a long time ago, that she could never be a Battle Mage.

But this time, she did not weep silently like every other time she came into this so called Nirvana of Knowledge. This time, she knew that there was another soul inside of her. The Battle Mage of the Grand Chase.

"Please, Battle Mage!" She screamed from the bottom of her heart.

Nothing came to her, but more tendrils that stabbed her. Yet she refused to give up.

"Arme Glenstid of the Grand Chase! Help me out of here so I can see my friend!"

Without delay, Aisha blinked at the sudden warmth that filled her. Every thorn that had the slightest contact with her dispersed with a lilac glow and created lights that generated a welcoming heat. With wonder, she looked around her. The darkness and the thorns that had surrounded her had dispersed, revealing her the world of books once more. And the books that had fallen with her floated gently, finding its rightful place inside the shelves.

The orbs of lights continued to shine around her, gradually gathering in front of her. She felt that it had carried her down to the ground, letting her land carefully and safely. Once it was done, the lights came together, forming some sort of body.

'He was right,' Aisha thought, staring in awe 'She does look like me…'

There a lilac haired person stood, looking at her innocently.

Yet upon closer inspection, she noticed that the girl seemed just a few years younger than her, maybe a bit more, as her lavender coloured eyes sparkled childishly at her. She smiled back, at the librarian who had thought, 'Is this really Arme Glenstid? The Battle Mage?'

"Wow! For a moment there, I thought you'd never wake me up. Hehehe" The younger girl simply giggled at her with a hand scratching neck sheepishly. Her sleeves were far . "Arme Glenstid is here and ready for action!"

But her smile soon faded away. "Well, not entirely ready… I feel my energy draining out and I'm guessing it's the fault of the Lich outside… Right?"

Aisha simply nodded, despite not knowing what was actually happening. But she believed that the younger, and much experienced girl knew more, and thus, knew what actions should be taken. "So… Will you help me?"

To her dismay, the Battle Mage shook her head slightly. "I'm afraid I can't help you unless you help yourself as well…"

"What do you mea-?!" Suddenly, the librarian was shoved down to her bottom by the battle mage. In that quick moment, a flash of light blasted from the staff of the battle mage, creating a wall of fire that surrounds them both. Hissings of dying thorns and prickles was heard afterwards, making the Battle Mage growl in irk. But more than that, she was upset.

Behind her, the librarian had cowered away from her in fear, as well as from the magical wall that protected them from the evil lurking around them. Her eyes trembled in horror, synchronizing with her shivering body. Arme frowned at the sight of it, that her vessel, her current self, was so scared of magic.

"You're traumatized… Aren't you...?"

"I… this is…." Nothing more than gibberish escaped the woman's lips as she stared down to her legs, her vision void of the magic. Aisha was suddenly reminded of the world she lived in years ago, when she was still just a middle schooler, so naïve to everything and so gullible to anything. She remembered exactly how she burst in fury to the mockery of a boy, creating a fiery explosion with her emotions. As it burned down the school, she could remember clearly, to how it gradually destroyed her life, and more importantly, her best friend.

She knew that she could recall those memories any time she'd want without breaking down, but just the feeling of magic near her simply broke her into pieces.

The Battle Mage crouched down until their eye levels met. "Aisha… Listen to me... You are not to be blamed for this all. You were young and foolish, but it doesn't mean you have to repeat that mistake once more…"

"So what?!" Aisha explode, catching the battle mage off guard, "You expect me to forget it and move on like nothing happened?! I lost my childhood and my best friend because of that!"

Immediately, Aisha flinched when she met a pair of glowering lilac eyes, burning with nothing but warmth and strength.

"Aisha… I'm not saying that. I'm telling you that you can't run away from this anymore. All this will stay the same if you don't take action and fight against your fears. "The younger girl said with a calm and solemn expression. "Aisha, you are not chosen as my vessel without a reason… I believe in your strength… I believe in you…"

Aisha looked at her. Those words were so familiar, so cliché as she had read it several times in thousands of storybooks, giving encouragement to anyone who reads them. Arme was telling her to face her fears of wielding magic and face it instead. A smile formed on her face.

The fear of her mistakes repeating itself, even after she faced the fears, grew from the corner and overwhelmed her. What if she losses another close friend? Well, she had tried hard to distance herself from the society around her, so there wouldn't be anyone important to be lost. Yet in her mind, the shy smile of Terry in the library, and that handsome black haired man, as well as Melody appeared. Even Arme's childish smile appeared in her face.

She couldn't help but shake her head gently.

* * *

"DIE YOU BLOODY FREAK!" The undertaker screamed in anger, throwing his scythe towards the skeletal demon, but to no avail as the evil spirit simply summoned more of his zombies to take the damage for him. Dirge clicked his tongue in irritation and launched himself towards those creatures to reclaim his scythe and then began to hack and slash his way towards the skeletal demon once more.

Dirge was gradually growing in anger as they had been playing this game of cat and mouse for a while. When he knew he was close enough, he instantly summoned his spear and threw it mercilessly towards the Lich as he once again made a 360 degrees swing with his scythe to launch the monsters around him flying off. He was just pissed of the endless, fruitless fighting. What he wanted was raw destruction with a simple meaning – death to the Lich. Not something so mindless as this petty game of chase.

After a glance had told him that he had missed the Lich once more, he snarled in rage. Without warning, his scythe disappeared in thin air and replacing it was a sword he had never seen before, but it was something he had read about already. A devilish smirk appeared across his face as he stabbed the ground with the sword.

Instantly, a large blade pierced out from the earth and towards the Lich, catching him off guard. Even with his mask on, Dirge could imagine the intense pain he had on his face as two smaller blades rushed through the bony fiend from diagonal directions, sending him flying off and crashing down to the ground.

"Rage sword, was it?" The undertaker smiled, looking at his new toy happily. "So now I have three weapons up my arsenal… Interesting…"

But he ceased smiling when he caught sight of lilac orbs of light floating towards the Lich, entering the fiend's core. Dirge shot a stare straight towards the tree and the woman. She was dying slowly, with her life slowly seeping out of her and turning into those same lilac orbs of light. And the fiend was absorbing it all. "Screw that shit… You were stalling..."

The undertaker ran towards the heart of the tree, this time he wielded his scythe. Uncaring of the useless monsters that blocked his path, he simply jumped over them with ease, using their heads as stepping stones towards his destination. On the other side, the Lich had thrown as much vines as he could to stop the advances of the undertaker.

"Damn it… Lay off, will you!" Dirge roared as he twisted himself to face the fiend. Quickly, his mind scanned for every possible skills he could use in mind that he could recall. Bringing out the rage sword once more, he hoped that even without practise, he'd manage to do it like those moments in games where the protagonist could do something utterly impossible. "P.. Phase Edge!"

Thrusting the sword forward, its blade entered into a light blue magic circle that appeared out of nowhere. Just inches in front of the Lich, another magic circle formed itself, and so did the end of the blade. It stabbed through the mask of the Lich, causing him to flinch in surprise.

Even the undertaker was slightly surprised that it worked. He left the sword stuck between dimensions and on the wooden mask of the fiend and ran towards the tree, expecting that it would keep him still for a while longer. 'New problem… How do I get her out of that thing…?'

With one glance, the librarian seemed like she was entwined in the thick brambles and tendrils, but upon a closer look, it was clear as ice that those thorns pierced into her body, with no intentions of letting her go. It was obvious if he'd just tear her out of there, he'd kill her, or rip off a couple of limbs and let her bleed to death.

The thought of it pleased him, seeing as she had banned him from entering the library once more. But he kept it at the back of his mind. The temptation for power was stronger than his bloodlust. 'Need her alive. She could help me with unleashing that Burning Canyon fellow…'

"GAAHH!" The purple haired man yowled in pain when he felt electrocution from his back and howled in angst under the strain of the sharp thorns and tendrils that suddenly wrapped around him from below. He swore loudly to himself, that he had accidentally lost his grip on his scythe in the shock. The blade was just sitting there, in front of him and so far from his reach. "Screw this… Can't even move an inch…"

A bone headed staff pointed at him in point blank. Dirge stiffen at the sight of it, as well as the Lich behind it. The sinister cackles seeped from behind the mask of the Lich. "Good night, Burning Canyon."

"Shit.. .This is not-"

BAM

Dirge blinked, half puzzled and half in relief at what had just happened. Apparently, a book had been slammed at the face of the Lich, knocking off his mask as well. And if that skull of his showed any expression, it would've been a baffled and confused one. But it was enough to send the undertaker laughing uncontrollably at the fiend's humiliation.

"Who interrupts my-"

BAM

Another book was thrown towards the dark mage once more, sending Dirge into a state of hysterical glee. Though, he had tried to hold back a little of his laughter just when he felt that the grip on him was lessen and took the opportunity to escape the thorns. Curious to see who was brave enough or simply stupid enough, to throw simple books at the likes of a skeletal mage, he took a quick glance towards the entrance of the temple as he grabbed his scythe. 'It must be Gisella and her brother. I've always known that she was odd in the head… Wanting to stick with the likes of me.'

Instead, he saw that tall lanky black haired man that Gisella had bumped into earlier that day, with his slate grey eyes glowering at them both, and running towards them without hesitation. His fists rammed the bones of the skeletal mage as he rushed past him, sending him towards the far end of the temple. Then the grey eyes met amethyst.

"… Stall him… I'll get Miss Aisha out…"

"Stall him? You think I'd just take the commands of some black haired stranger I've never met?" Strangely enough, he felt a tang of hatred to the man. Well, he never did liked black haired people for reasons unknown to him. But this was a man he had never met before (ignoring the bump incident). Then again, life was never fair.

"Would you rather try and get her out of this mess?"

"Fair enough." Dirge snorted in defeat, as he rushed towards the Lich. The black haired man nodded in content and picked up one of his books he had thrown. It was the

"… Battle Mage of the Grand Chase… I didn't expect this to happen so early..." He sighed, picking up one of the books. It was titled 'Grand Chase: 5th book. The Battle Mage'. He held it tightly and tapped his forehead onto the librarian's own. "I shouldn't have left the library early today..."

* * *

Thorns pierced through the spaces behind them as the two women ran for their lives, jumping over every bookcase and running through unknown hallways. Aisha was leading the party of two, despite not knowing this labyrinth of books as much as the battle mage she dragged because the battle mage herself seemed so drained out and weak.

Obviously enough to the librarian, these thorns were a bad influence to this world as slowly she saw the world around her fall into corruption with the darkness that the thorns possessed. And if this world dies, so does the Battle Mage.

"Darn it.. What is it that I should do?!" Aisha grumbled with doubts, taking regular glances behind her to make sure that Arme was still alright enough to keep up with her and the distance between them and the thorns were at a significant amount.

She blinked at the sight of orange orbs that floated in front of her. It stood out abnormally as the librarian grew to notice this world was themed with the colour purple, like the younger girl behind her. But it didn't seem as threatening as the darkness behind them so she ran after it.

"That's the Orb of Destruction!" Arme yelped eagerly at the sight of the floating orbs, recognizing the unique mark it possessed. By magic, her spirits were lifted up as she rushed towards them. " It's Perseo's orbs… What are they doing here? I'm not a follower of his…"

Aisha merely stared at them in awe. The world she lived in had no need for Gods and Goddesses, and here, she had finally heard the name of a God which she had only read in books of legends. Well, everything seemed believable now when she was witnessing the Battle Mage in front of her. Remembering what she had once read, she knew that Perseo was the God of Destruction who resided in his Temple of Destruction. He watches over the mayhem of the world, ensuring that it was at a considerable amount to keep the balance of the world.

The fingertips of the librarian had involuntarily touched the orb. And it popped, jolting both the women. Followed with it was a voice.

"Miss Aisha… You are the new Battle Mage.."

One by one, each orb popped softly, and the same voice whispered to her.

"We need your strength in this new era."

"Remember your mistakes.. Let it scar your memories.."

"So you will avoid making it once more…"

"So your friends will never suffer once more…"

"That is the true strength of a Battle Mage…"

Aisha stared at the orange dust that flicker away into nothingness, leaving light that shone around them. Perhaps one may call it a barrier, as the tendrils didn't seem to advance any more than a meter radius from the where the orbs were once floating at.

"R-remember it… Let it scar… To Avoid it…" The librarian uttered softly, desperately taking in such information, but to no avail. It was different compared to most encouragements. It was harsh, with a slight tang of cruelty, yet so real. Like a bitter sweet, swallowed in the moment of surprise. On the other hand, the battle mage hummed in understanding.

"… Aisha…" Arme whispered her name, getting her attention. "Did you know? I did more than enough destruction and chaos, yet I never regretted making every single one of them and instead, I remember nearly every case. Because I try to learn from every mistake I make and try to correct myself the next time so when the time really matters, I can cast the magic with perfection and make sure no one I see precious will be hurt."

The battle mage offered the librarian her hand once more. "Aisha… Let's fight this together…"

Aisha stared at that hand. If she were to return back to the path of magic, the risk of endangering her friends will return. But this time, it was different. Arme was here, next to her.

She couldn't help but reached out for it.

* * *

CRACKLE

"Huh?" Dirge took a passing glance over the tree, only to see that the thorns were slowly releasing the woman's body from its grasp. She fell into the arms of the black haired man, her eyes gently opened as she regained conscious. At the same time, the tree began to crumble after losing its source of life. "Well… Whatever he did seemed to work…"

But he blinked in surprise when the librarian instantly took an offensive stance and formed a green magic circle before her. Quickly reacting, he lunged towards them and took cover, seeing a vortex of wind blasting towards his direction with ferocity. "AIR BLAST!"

"WHAT THE F-?!"

An agonizing hiss of pain seeped from behind him. Dirge saw that the Lich was indeed damaged heavily after getting blasted to the end of the room, and it was growling in angst at it.

"I'll take back my powers, thank you very much!" The undertaker saw her shout without fear. She seemed less like the librarian he first met that was so cold and spiteful. There was a sense of bravery and chivalry around her, much like those main character types he sees in games. Lilac eyes then met amethyst. "Dio…?"

"Yeah.. Call me by that demon's name. Don't bother trying to remember my real name…" He scowled as he picked himself up and ran towards the librarian's side.

"Sorry…" She mumbled, keeping her eyes on her target. "I just woke up so I'm a bit blurry with what's happening. But I can see the Lich here is our enemy…"

"Way to state the obvious…" Dirge grunted, holding his scythe near to him at the sight of the of the Lich's speedy recovery. "You woke up? So you're another soul inside the librarian, huh? That means you can use some sort of special move that eradicates him, right?"

"I'm afraid I can't. I've used up a considerable amount and he's got the rest of my powers," She muttered darkly, "Good news is that I can sense that he's weakening after losing his source of power. But you'll have to finish him of head on whilst I back you up with some basic skills."

"Back to square one then…" The undertaker dashed off with his scythe ready to chop off the masked skull off the Lich. He saw vines and thorns uprooting from the floor, but unlike last time, they burned into crisps of fire. He heard the woman behind him scream her spells and thought she had proven to be much useful like this rather than her cold self.

On the other hand, Arme began to grow doubtful.

"… Why… Why isn't he fighting in full force…? That isn't like Dio at all…" The battle mage muttered to herself as she casted more firebolts towards every obstruction faced by the undertaker as well as herself. It seemed as the Lich was aware he was weakened greatly and had grown to be more vigilant and tougher to hit, seeing as the purple haired man swinging his scythe with fury which was all in vain.

"He hasn't been fully released…" Beside her, the black haired man leaned down with a book in his hand, one which was dark purple with white rims; something that seemed far too familiar to her. "Your vessel was the one who made this... Maybe you could read it as well and search for clues…"

Arme grabbed the book and flipped through its pages quickly. It didn't take her more than a second to realize that it was written in the language of demons. But she wasn't too concerned with it as she could read most of it. 'It's not fluent and too simple. The same level as the amount of my understanding in demon language…' She flipped to the end of the book, noticing that the last words were left hanging. 'And it's not finished…'

'I've seen a similar book inside this library…' The voice inside of her called out to her. Aisha was fighting with her inside, finishing off the last of the dark thorns in their sanctuary of books. 'Maybe I was unconsciously writing it down as I was looking through it…'

'Search for it. It must be the reason Dio's vessel is limited to only his weapon side…'

Nodding to the command, the librarian inside ran in the endless hallways. A hasty glance towards each bookshelf made her go further into the library, as the book didn't appear to be close to her than she thought. Then again, she had been running around this place more than enough.

'There!' Aisha yelped, grabbing the white rimmed book when she caught sight of it. Opening it, she realized how familiar those foreign words seemed. It was almost as if…. '… I can… Read it now…?'

'Of course… Only a Battle Mage is allowed to enter and read the secrets and knowledge she keeps…' Arme whispered back. 'Now what does the last page say…?'

The battle mage blinked when she heard her vessel read out the very last words of the book. She then looked at the undertaker, roaring in anger at the Lich he battled with. "H-hey! Dio's vessel!"

"Can't you see I'm busy!" He barked back, when he dodged another shot of lightning. At the sight of arms coming out of the floor, he swept his scythe to cut limbs off, preventing anymore zombies from rising out of the ground. It was silly to cut off the arms of the zombies only, but it was pretty effective as they couldn't grab onto anything to pull themselves out of the ground. When the battle mage called out to him once more, he yowled in irk. "What the Hell is it now?!"

"Harness your energy to pull out your powers from another dimension! I'll cover you!"

"What…?!"

"Just do it! It's some sort of skill Dio had used called Life Keep!" She yelled back as she ran towards the undertaker, taking his place as the Lich's opponent. Raising up her hand, she brought up a wall of fire, preventing anyone from approaching. "Quickly!"

Dirge stared at her with uncertainty. How can the likes of him just pull out powers from another dimension? That was just too unbelievable, even after witnessing scythes and magic and demon books first hand. Nevertheless, he gave himself a quick stretch, ready to do anything. "Screw everything. Let's see if it works…"

He shut his eyes, concentrating everything into his hands, since he was going to 'pull' those powers out from some freaky dimension.

Suddenly, his left arm throbbed in ached as he focused his energy. Dirge hissed in pain, but he held back every other feeling he had. He was beginning to feel raw power in the tips of his fingers that drove his will to go on.

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A murky violet hole of darkness ripped open before him. Clouded in power, his left arm lunged in to grab it. Roaring once more, Dirge felt the intense strength that was kept in this dimension, seeping into his flesh and blood and quickly finding its way into the core of his soul.

_'Unleash his powers, the one and only Dusk Bringer,  
Dragging along death and desolation along wherever he walks,  
Leaving nothing behind but a wasteland of Annihilation  
And conquered everything as the Chieftain of the Burning Canyon,  
With Soul Reaver, Rake Hand and more as his weapons of war,  
So kneel before him, his strength, the King of Destruction.'_

A sinister smile grew on the undertaker's face at the sight of his left arm being wrapped in darkness, slowly forging into a massive claw that they all called a Rake Hand. He could almost taste the destruction he'd make with such a powerful weapon in his steed.

But he did not notice the darkness began to seep out of the dimension rip and coat around him.

"WAIT! THIS IS-!" Dirge bellowed when he felt a sudden tug of his left hand. Someone was pulling him into the darkness. He jolted at the sight of a pair of glowing purple eyes staring straight back at him. He felt the black mist shoving him slightly into the hole, towards the creature inside.

"D-dio!" Arme yelled his name at the sight of the undertaker disappearing along with the dimension rip. At that moment, her guard fell instantly, making her an easy target for an electrocution. "AAAAAARGH!"

The menacing laughter of the Lich echoed in the temple. Arme twitched in pain, feeling the paralysation of her nervous system. But she wasn't paralysed enough to push herself up, to see that the Lich's staff was at point blank with her.

"So the Dusk Bringer's awakening backfired and now the Battle Mage is weak before me… "

Yet the Lich stopped, noticing that the lilac eyes of the Battle Mage were not focused on him, but behind.

On the iris of the woman, were enormous light blue wings that were torn and tattered after witnessing years of annihilation. A tail whipped with irritation, eager for the day it was covered once more by blood of its enemies. A gigantic claw on the left twitched in lust for flesh and a large scythe on the right gleamed in thirst for souls.

A twisted laugh filled the room, sending shivers in everyone's spines.

"I will destroy you… And leave nothing behind…"

Without giving another second, the demon faded into the shadows and poured all his powers into a sphere of darkness, incomparable with the blackness of any evil.

"Chaos… Hit…."

**Chapter 8 - End**

* * *

Phew. Work has been hectic recently, so I had to push my time for this stuff to a later date. That and I felt partially depressed...

I found out that someone's reposting this story in Wattpad... well, on his profile, he did state that all credits belongs to us authors but...  
I did state that I wasn't uncomfortable with things like this from the author's comment of the last chapter as I have no authority in that site, especially when I need to edit some grammar mistakes and shit like that. I FEAR GRAMMAR NAZIS. HIDE ME FROM THEM!

I also make minor mistakes such as calling Dio's scythe a Death Scythe instead of a Soul Reaver... Damn it, Soul Eater! Don't get in my Grand Chase ways!

So my disappointment made me go through artist block... But whatever.. No one really cares about the feelings of the author, right? They only want the story to go on, right? *returns to emo corner*

Moving on~

There's a little chapter of Dirge's past which he's closed forever... Heheh... Dio in an exorcist outfit... What a hilarious scene it would be.. And throughout the chapter, you'd probably notice how he relates a lot of things with games... Well, boys will be boys. And Dio will be.. well... Dio.  
Yes, Dirge is probably the only one who calls Lich as Liche to make him special? Well, it means the same thing - Some skull freak who does magic.  
There's no surprise that Sieghart will hate planes if he already hates trains. Besides, the process of getting a plane trip is more than enough to send him sleeping in the queue.  
I gave Mari a smart phone cause she can make one. And it's strange that there were no characters around without one considering the era we live in now have too much of those things...  
Finally, I'm very aware that Life Keep doesn't work that way... I have no further comments on it...

Lookie! Perseo's Orbs are Orange! ORANGE, I TELL YOU! I love that color...

To CrimsonFlarez : Well, we'll just have to see if I've transformed Zero into a girl heheheh. But definitely, I'll still attack Zero if he was a girl (unless Gran comes and kills me for it). So sorry you got confused at some point, I'll try to lessen the speech confusion..

Right, I've got a question to you people as well. Dio's got weapon side and demon side. Whoever's an expert in using him, could you tell me the pros and cons of each side. I've recently got Dio in my team but I'm reluctant to choose a side. Honestly, I favor weapon side over demon side, but I'm a dungeoneer and I hear weapon side's quite useless in dungeons and are preferred in PvP (I'm screwed in PvP..)... And I have no knowledge on demon side.. Halp please?

Alright, I'll leave it here then. See you guys later.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 - Everyone loves Steam Buns...**

_'Today's top headlines covers the investigations on the explosion at the Shrine of the Dead are still carried out. It is believed to be made by terrorists that-'_

The television was immediately switched off, followed by a hiss of anger. The purple haired man threw the remote control onto another sofa and crossed his arms in irk. "I'm not a terrorist! Do I look like a terrorist?!"

"No. More like a little harmless bird. Nothing serious." A sarcastic retort came from behind him, making him boil up more that he was. He turned around and growled only to be hit with a frying pan. "Behave or I'm not cooking breakfast for you."

"Yes, mom," he replied back with the same amount of cynicism and continued to glare at him, without the growling. Then he looked down onto himself in boredom. He couldn't help but sigh at the sight of himself.

Dirge was a full-fledge demon now, with purple skin, two horns sticking out of his head, fangs sharper than any animal he knew and a transmuted thorny left arm. And a tail, a small arrow headed tail which he found the most amusing as it seemed oddly put on to him as it just stuck out of his butt. His wings weren't visible, but he could let them out whenever he pleased.

Well, that wasn't the depressing part to him. In fact, he found it as one of the greatest things he ever had. It was the fact he can't go around in public and scare off and make havoc with this form. He glowered to the man behind him, or to be specific, his childhood friend.

"Rue… Can't I at least terrorize the town at night?"

"If you want to die by my bullets, then yes, be my guest." He replied bluntly, without giving any eye contact with the demon and concentrating on flipping the great smelling omelettes on the frying pan. Dirge muttered to himself that the man was nothing more than a killjoy.

The man was a brunette with a thin 5 o'clock beard, draped with his casuals and an apron. He was cooking something that smelled delicious, which was sadly blocked by the fade smell of minty nicotine. Red eyes continued to watch over the yellow fluff in the pan, probably omelette considering he had taken out some eggs earlier on.

Rue Gatling, age 28, single, once a detective and now a part time firearms antique shopkeeper, cheap and selfish but is really a lonely guy, used to be a heavy smoker, still a heavy drinker, loves explosives and guns, has a strange liking for sweetened steam buns, a hard core gamer of shooting games, has cooking as one of his hobbies, a cat person and a virgin (he knew being a gun maniac was a bad thing). That was what most people should know about the man that Dirge called a childhood friends.

But in actuality, he was the vessel for the Grand Chaser, Rufus Wilde. A demon, an Arbiter of his own Justice, always trigger-happy, still a gun maniac and gunpowder fetish, cheap and selfish and loved solitude, has at least one thing against everyone else in the Grand Chase and has a serious brother complex with this other Grand Chaser. Well, that was what the demon inside of him told him.

The demon inside was what he now recognized as Dio Burning Canyon, an infamous demon of the underworld from centuries ago and a famed Dusk Bringer of the Grand Chase. He was the cause of the undertaker's body transformation, as well as the powers granted to him. Dirge could remember it all clearly, the scene of a wasteland where he resided in all these passing centuries, waiting to once again, rise to power.

* * *

A demon shrouded in darkness stood in this void with him. The undertaker could feel the immense ferocity of the demon, even when he could only see violet eyes that stared back at him with calmness. Or was the peace in his eyes the sign of a violent storm coming?

"You are… Dirge Steamrift?" He hissed, not forgetting to show how deathly sharp his fangs were.

"Y-yeah, what of it?" Dirge didn't want to reveal he was slightly scared, not in front of the guy everyone called the King of Destruction.

"Your body… Is not compatible with my powers…" Dio's claw glowed sinisterly as he raised it forth. Without wasting another second, he had slammed down the undertaker to the ground. Dirge didn't scream or yowl in fear or surprise. The immense speed was too fast for him to make a decent reply, let alone a reaction. "For starters… You are in a human body… Let me make you a much suitable one…"

Initially, he didn't understand what the demon had said until he felt that claw sink deep into his body. Dirge roared, channelling every bit of pain he felt through his voice. Slowly and terribly, he could feel his skin was being peeled off. And the sight of the demon's content face didn't reassure him – he was smiling at his vessel's pain for Hell's sake!

This was definitely the Dusk Bringer, he who brings destruction to everyone.

"There… Your demon core… This thing's important so I can't touch that…" with his claws, he took out a jewel-like fragment out of the depths of his insides. Dirge merely stared, speechless of what to say. For starters, why in Aernas was that inside him, and not a heart?! Taking a small glance down, he noticed there was not even his lungs, guts, bones, or anything under his peeled open skin. And did he not say he wasn't going to touch that thing?! That.. Demon Core or whatever it was! Then what did he mean by he couldn't going to touch it?

"Right… With that out of the way, let's start messing up your body…"

Dirge couldn't remember the details, but he knew how painful it was when the demon had started clawing everything off of him. And everything meant skin, hair, fingernails. To simply put, he was trying to strip the man out of everything. Even when Dirge had struggled to free himself from the forceful pain, the demon would dig his claws deeper into his flesh, grapple him down, straddle onto him to keep him from moving and scrape whatever without mercy.

"… There… Not an inch of human on you…" finally the demon stopped and heaved himself off and finally was Dirge left to be free from the torturous moment. And Dirge saw himself.

A demon. An indescribable horrifying demon.

He felt a tingle of glee inside of him even at the sight of his purple skin.

"Now we have this," Dio held his so called Demon core "Accept my powers…" Without explaining anymore, the darkness that shrouded the demon began to harness into the demon core. Gradually, the demon grew more visible to him, revealing a replica of himself. Except, he seemed a little younger and just a tad shorter.

Wow, he let a kid tackle him down. Dirge pouted at the thought of it.

But he wasted no more time doing so when Dio had shoved the darkened fragment into the chest of the undertaker. It had gone through layers of skin, returning back into where it should be. A burning sensation filled him up, of pure madness and raw destruction. Yet the newly made demon felt no satisfaction as he felt groggy and drained out from the brutal transformation. Dio let out an annoyed yowl. "Guess that's my fault for being so rough..."

"You think? If I didn't know any better, I bet you did that painfully on purpose."

"Well, you would've done the same thing, no?" The demon smirked, a prideful air surrounded him. "I mean… You _are_ my vessel."

"So I am…" Dirge couldn't help but snicker, realizing how true the demon's words were as he felt the powers inside him surge throughout each blood vessel and nerve points of his body. No wonder he was the vessel of this guy. They were so compatible, almost alike. Though, Dirge realized he couldn't move anything of his body.

"Your soul has yet to fully grasp proper control of my powers…" Dio clicked his tongue as he muttered a swear. "I'll take over your body for a bit… I haven't tasted destruction in centuries anyways…"

"Be my guest then…" The undertaker tried to crouch down, feeling the strain all over him after accepting this new overwhelming power. He had a brief eye contact with the violet eyes of the demon before the demon disappeared into a mist of dark amethyst.

It was the gentle pair of eyes, the calm before the chaotic storm.

* * *

"Here, food."

Dirge blinked at the sight of an omelette on plate that was shoved at him. Rue sat next to him with the lack of his apron, already wolfing down his share. Without waiting another second longer, he as well began to eat.

'… So this Rue guy… Is he like your slave or pet or something…? He seems to serve you…' Dio whispered from the back of his mind. Ever since that incident, the demon has yet to take over his body and now resides at the darkest part of his brain. He could imagine the demon sitting on his desecrated chair he calls his throne.

'Nah. He's a childhood friend since… Middle School? So that's like 16 years. He just likes cooking…'

'He puts up with you and provides you food…. Therefore, he's your slave.' Dio selfishly claimed as he laughed. The undertaker was amused to how the chieftain inside of him would simply do such things that he couldn't help but let out a little chuckle, half agreeing to what Dio said.

"Why the Hell are you laughing?" Rue snarled next to him. "I didn't put shit in this, you know… Or you're talking to that guy inside of you?"

"The second one."

The brunette simply grunted and wiped his face clean of any food particle left on his face. After setting down his plate, he crossed his arms and heaved out a sigh. "… Must it really be me…?"

Dirge stopped and stared at him. The brunette was frowning with seriousness. He couldn't blame him. Everything was dumped on the guy in one night.

* * *

Last night, Rue, wearing glasses, was chewing onto another sweetened steamed bun he had recently bought from the convenience store nearby. Taking his favourite coffee mug from the kitchen counter, he proceeded towards the living room part of his 2-LDK apartment. It was small and he lived alone and had used the other spare bedroom for storage.

His laptop was sitting on the coffee table, waiting for him to return. Various windows were opened and most were full of bloody pictures and stories of the past years except one which was filled with information about making your own home made gun and explosives. Any normal person who saw this would've mistook him as a terrorist. He wasn't a terrorist. In fact, he was a detective. Well… _Was_…

Rue shook his head and sat in front of his laptop. He continued to read more about the article he had opened up, one that dated 14 years ago. It was titled the as Scarlet Cross Massacre.

BAM BAM BAM

Rue blinked in surprise. Right after he started reading the title, someone was banging on his door. It felt like some coincidence from any drama series to him but it didn't mean that he couldn't act seriously upon it. Grabbing his one of his spare gun he had hidden from the authorities from the bottom of the cushions of his couch, he approached the door carefully.

"Rue! Let me in or I'll open the door by force again!"

The brunette paused at the hallway in front of his front door and sighed. He recognized that voice anywhere and he hated the payments he had to make for installing a new front door. Quickly shoving the handgun into his back pocket, he unlocked the door.

"Dirge, what have I told you about-!" Rue was speechless at the sight of his friend who was waiting outside. Who wouldn't?!

His face was still the same, but everything else about him was something that came out of storybooks. He was a demon, for hell's sake! Except for the woman in his demonic arms, of course… Wait, where the hell did he get her from? Or was she still even alive?!

"Rue! You know about first aid right? Here!" Instantly, the woman was shoved into his arms. She was shivering uncontrollably, breathing rapidly. "Do something!"

The brunette nodded, trying to ignore the fact that his friend had successfully become a demon. Well, he had always been obsessed with getting stronger one way or another ever since he left his exorcist family, but that was just unreal. He brought the purple haired woman towards his bedroom and set her down. Her temperature was burning up.

He gradually recognized her as the librarian of the local library. Dirge had mentioned about her once – about how he hated her – and he spoke nothing else about her again.

"Dirge… She's just caught a fever… Get a basin of hot water and a towel…" He ran out of the room to see that the demon had left the door open and had made his way to the bathroom. Annoyed at the sight of exposure, Rue made a hastily jog to his door and closed it, not forgetting to lock it. Then he went straight to the kitchen, remembering where he had put his medicine for fever and at the same time he desperately resisted the temptation to grab another steam bun to stick in his mouth.

When he re-entered his bedroom, he saw that Dirge had already covered the woman with his blanket and tucked her comfortably in his bed. A damp towel was on her forehead. Rue walked towards them. "Isn't this the librarian you said you hated? Why do you have her? She's too cute to be with you anyways. Your standards would never match hers."

"Shut it, Rue." The demon spat back. "She's just an old friend. I don't know why she was like that so I brought her here."

'Old friend?' The brunette snorted as he place the medicine down on the bedside. "So… Are you going to explain? What…" He pointed at everything of Dirge, "All this is about?"

Dirge made a smirk. "In the living room. I want some steam buns as well. Your mouth reeks of them."

"Coffee. No steam buns." Rue replied instantly, heading towards the kitchen and making his usual brew of coffee. He knew that the undertaker enjoyed his bitter than his likings so he didn't add any sugar. When he approached the undertaker in the living room, he had spotted that the undertaker was looking through his laptop. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Thought you were watching dirty shit or something like a lonely old pervert." The demon snickered to himself as he moved away, letting the brunette sit in front of his laptop and grabbing the coffee that was made. Though, Dirge didn't get to escape the wrath of the brunette which was a simple yet stinging bat at his shoulder – the one which lacked the rake hand. "Looks like you're still reading those stuff…"

"Yeap.. The usual things, Dirge…" Rue grabbed his own coffee mug and took a sip. The only person that knew his personal work was Dirge, seeing as the guy never fails to stick with him for the sake of free food and to kill time. He took a glance at the screen of his laptop. The words 'Scarlet Cross Massacre' was still highlighted.

Even without reading the written article, he knew what it was all about. In the darker side of Kanavan, there were many groups that ruled in their own lawless world. He could remember a couple of names; Gorgon Tail, Storm Breakers, Silver Rose. But the one name he can never forget was the Scarlet Cross Mafias.

He shook his head, throwing back the name at the back of his mind. The present was much important and Dirge was here in the present. After that, he commanded his laptop to hibernation mode and stared at the undertaker with expectation. "Well? Start explaining. I won't believe that you would take up cosplay as a hobby and started wearing horns and tails and shit casually."

Dirge blinked. "And where are the steam buns?"

"They're mine." The brunette growled. He knew that Dirge loved annoying him, taking his favourite food away from him included. It wasn't usual to see the guy pushy at times like this. He just loved pissing anyone off. And he'll keep it up until he finally achieves victory. "… After the conversation…"

"Okay." Satisfied, Dirge leaned back and crossed his legs, a habit he had for a very long time. He drank a portion of his coffee and then spoke. "Well, you know that fairy tale? Grand Chase? Well, it's real and the souls of those heroes are inside some people in this era. There's some sort of prophecy that mentions about how they're awakened just before some evil guy come back to life. Seems like that woman there had the Battle Mage's soul and I had the Dusk Bringer's."

An odd silence followed after, with the exception of Dirge's slurping of his coffee. Rue glared at him.

"… You made it all short and simple so you'd remember our deal and get my steamed bun …"

"Yeap. Now fetch the bun!"

Reluctantly, the brunette heaved himself up and walked towards the kitchen. As he walked, he tried to think calmly. He knew that Dirge enjoyed messing around, but all he saw in the demon's face whilst he talked was the lack of joke. He recalled that the Dusk Bringer of the Grand Chase was a demon, which explained Dirge's current form as some huge demon. Besides, Dirge still had the same obnoxious personality of his that those things that stick out of his body seemed like simple accessories that suits him.

Looking across the room, he saw the woman sleeping in his bedroom – he had left it open in case she was struggling in her sleep or something. That librarian had the Battle Mage's soul, which explained why Dirge seemed a little desperate to aid her, even if it was a simple fever (then again, the guy wasn't so knowledgeable in these areas). If anyone was proven useful to the man, he'd always give another wary glance at the person to use him or her to Dirge's advantage.

And it wasn't wrong to consider that librarian an old friend, considering the two souls used to associate with each other. Rue opened his fridge – It wasn't filled with anything special but the alarming amount of cans of beers and the huge stash of sweet buns which was recently put in there that he had been planning ration for 2 or 3 days. Without the courtesy of taking a plate and all, he simply grabbed one and looked at Dirge.

"Here, your steam bun." The brunette simply threw it at him and watched the demon's claw grab it with ease. As he returned to his seat, he thought to himself that if this so called evil was going to rise back and Dirge of all people was part of this Grand Chase nonsense, then it was much efficient for him to stay in the side lines and stick to his own business.

"Dirge. I believe you, but I won't care about it. Just keep me out of it, alright." Rue took his mug and took another sip of his drink. He thought of retiring early after seeing all this craziness. It was already quite late when he saw the clock on the wall.

"…. That's a problem…" When the demon said so, red eyes glowered at him from behind the glasses. "… Dio, the guy inside me, the Dusk Bringer, tells me that you're the Arbiter's vessel."

* * *

Rue groaned, just thinking of the fact he had the Arbiter's soul in him. It was obvious he didn't want to get involved with the Grand Chase. Not after he got fired from his previous job. The demon licked his plate clean, knowing that he being a detective was already steps closer into getting vital information, and now he was back to square one. It was important for the brunette to try and reorganize his plans once more and that needed time. He didn't have time.

Surely, he wouldn't want to bother about the Grand Chase – which option would anyone choose? Their personal goal that they had been working on for years or follow some sudden random fairy tale game that seemed unbelievable?

The brunette stood abruptly, going towards the front door. "Stay in the house if you have to, but clean the dishes. And don't touch my steam buns."

"Where are you going?"

"Work." He grunted back. "And take care of that librarian… I want her to get well as quick as possible so she can go back to her own place and I have my bed."

When the door slammed behind him, Dirge snorted a curse. "He's nags too much… Who the hell does he think I am?" The demon growled as he picked up the dishes and headed towards the kitchen.

'Why the hell is he going to work? Shouldn't he be worrying about important things?!' Inside Dio grumbled. 'And why the hell are you cleaning up this shit?'

"Cause he doesn't have enough plates around and I'll want food later." The undertaker simply replied for the matter of cleaning the plates. "As for work… He uses that excuse to be alone to think... It gets easier to read him when you get used to him..."

'… Just as complicatedly simple as Rufus…' Dio snorted, not caring whether his statement actually made sense. 'But knowing that annoying prick, Rue'll choose what favours him the most…'

"So waking up the Arbiter's soul might not be as simple as most games, huh…" Dirge looked around after quickly rinsing the plates under running water and leaving in on the side to dry. What can you expect? He wasn't raised without a servant so he wouldn't know how to do it properly. But it didn't really mean he knew nothing of how to survive alone - he made it this far, did he?

Ignoring the fact he may get a little too incompetent in that area (of course, the Dusk Bringer's vessel would never admit to any flaws), he opened the fridge's door and looked around. Not caring of the day, he grabbed a can of beer and opened it. And he noticed how the stash of steam buns had disappeared from where he would usually see it. 'Rue must have hidden it somewhere knowing I'll be raiding his fridge...'

He took a couple of sips of his beer and looked around the place. From there, he saw the ex-detective's room was still opened so that they could keep an eye on the librarian. She was still sleeping and had a change of towel over her forehead. Dirge snorted at the sight of the woman, knowing she'll be far useful awake than sleeping there with a fever. Then again, her body hadn't been used to the amount of fire that she casted around her, making her body temperature rise drastically.

Frankly, she had been able to stand for so long because of her adrenaline. The immense presence of Dio's Chaos Hit seemed too much for her to handle that she had finally fainted out of exhaustion. Though, it appeared to him that she was fine enough to eat her medicine some time in the middle of the night whilst both he and Rue slept in the living room to give her a bit of privacy – Dirge snickered at the fact that Rue wasn't so comfortable being near that woman.

His violet eyes then saw the second bedroom of the apartment. Rue had always told him to stay out of it because he used it as a storage room. But the undertaker knew that the brunette had always been a little too secretive. Licking his lips of the beer, he went towards the room.

Locked.

"Damn… This sucks.."

'You aren't human, you know. Use blink to teleport inside.'

"Oh yeah." If Dio were to be standing next to him, he would rip the horns of the newly made demon mercilessly for being slow in the head. The undertaker knew how to teleport. He spent the whole night with Dio to receive every single skill the chieftain knew and practiced it vigorously until it was all perfect, even if it was a simple teleportation trick.

Dirge shut his eyes and blinked quickly. He was still uncomfortable with the sight of everything blurring into darkness and appearing back into a different situation. It felt much easier to simply shut his eyes at that exact moment. When he opened his eyes, he goggled at the sight. 'Seems like I didn't even need to shut my eyes to feel weird…'

The room was void of this so-called _'storage'_. Rather, it was filled with piles and piles of papers and articles stuck here and there. If not, it was hanging from the ceiling by a string. And a red string was used to tie each and every information to one another, as if to form a certain ground link.

In the centre of the room was an article that caught Dirge's eye. A really old newspaper which even had a date – It was a 14 year old newspaper. The headlines were huge and clear. 'Scarlet Cross Massacre'.

'What the hell is all this shit?' Dio grumbled at the sight of papers, feeling a little dizzy looking at thousands of minute words that surrounded them. 'And what the hell is a 'Scarlet Cross Massacre'? That Rue guy seems so obsessed with it from last night.'

Dirge sighed as he leaned at the door, feeling a tang of regret for not listening to Rue's warnings. He knew he enjoyed going through other's privacy and all, but things as serious as this was something he knew he shouldn't tread on so easily.

"16 years ago, Rue moved into the neighbourhood I lived in. I became his friend cause he looked pathetic alone. But later on I learnt that Rue's dad remarried to some captain in the mafia group that controlled our neighbourhood, Scarlet Cross, and he's just close with his step brother. I thought he was weird enough when he was so close to his little brother."

'Well, Rufus did have a brother complex…'

Dirge couldn't help but let a dry chuckle pass his lips at the unsympathetic comment of the Dusk Bringer. "Then 2 years later, the Scarlet Cross Massacre happened. It was a one night bloodbath that destroyed the whole mafia group and everyone involved with it – women and children weren't spared either. News spread like wildfire the next day and the scariest part was when I found Rue, all bloody and torn apart and under my bed…"

'I don't care if you were scared – I'll hurt you later for that. But why the hell was he under your bed? How did he even end up there?!' Dio didn't seemed amused at the fact laid out to him. He couldn't see the logic of a survivor who would crawl under someone's bed.

"Hell knows how and why." Dirge shrugged, remembering the sight of a bloody hand sticking out from underneath his bed. Truthfully, the younger Dirge would have scream in shock and brought someone around to exorcise it (Dirge hated the undead since before then, like he was born to hate them). The older Dirge would've taken a knife and chopped it to pieces, laughing at the torture it went through. But he didn't do it because Rue crawled out before he decided to do anything. "But basically, after knowing his whole family was destroyed, he left town and came into Kanavan and became a detective so he'd be able to track down who was responsible for it all and had his revenge."

'… So he thirsts for revenge… Sounds like the Rufus I knew as well...' Dio seemed amused. 'We can use that to our advantage then. Tell him if he's agrees to wake Rufus up, he'll get the benefits from that Arbiter in tracking down his targets…'

Dirge nodded, with a lingering guilt that he'll use something personal against the ex-detective to force him to join him in this Grand Chase stuff. But it was simply crushed by his ambitions. His amethyst eyes had unconsciously followed the connecting strings that tied each paper together. They highlighted some areas, but he couldn't seem to connect them together. Fed up with the messed up situation, he blinked out of the room, deciding that playing one of the game stations Rue still had should kill some time.

At least he knew what to do when Rue gets back.

* * *

The silver haired man sighed as he looked around and saw nothing but darkness. To him, that was nothing unusual. Even the heavy smell of blood that engulfed him seemed normal. He looked down to see snow. And traces of blood.

'It's been the same dream recently.' He thought to himself. But he didn't mind it, knowing he had always lived the nights with worse nightmares. Comparing it all with this dream, this was like his little break from it all, a peaceful solace.

Looking forward, he heard a courageous roar followed after the showers of bullets that exploded around the monsters. The silverette blinked at the beautiful steel guns that blasted everything before it. Yet he couldn't see the wielder as he was a mere silhouette. But he could tell how much of a disadvantage the silhouette was, surrounded in the endless wave.

As he got closer, he noticed how heavily the gunman was breathing. He was exhausted.

_'Watch over him vigilantly, Arbiter of the underworld,  
Day by day, he coats himself with blood and sins,  
So the light may never be tainted by the corruption,  
Alone, they suffer an unreasonable consequence.'_

The silver haired man sighed when he heard those words being whispered into his ears. He knew those words meant well; they wanted him to fight alongside the arbiter. Because every time it was told to him, the gunman will fall onto his knees, overwhelmed by the strength of the endless foes. Besides, the lyrics warned him, if he were alone, they both would suffer.

Yet even after knowing that, he turned away from watching the silhouette suffering his fate. He knew that even if he were to help, they would both fall as the hums that were whispered into his ears was also a sign that he was waking up soon. The silver haired man sighed, wishing that this was over as soon as possible.

"Haa!" The silver haired man stopped. He couldn't recall any screaming, let alone the sound of a smooth slash of a blade. Turning around, he gaped in awe.

Another silhouette appeared, behind the gunman, wielding a sword. One he had never seen before. Side by side, the two silhouettes worked together like gears in a clockwork tower. They stood their ground and showed no signs of fear to their enemies and protected one another like it was natural for them. They were confident and brave, showing no signs of falter.

_'Watch over him vigilantly, Striker of the Silver Cross,  
Wandering as an outcast, he sentences judgment to all,  
So the darkness may never be purified by innocence,  
Together, they strive to defend what they hold precious.'_

A new verse was sung into his ears and he understood it immediately. The arbiter and the striker must stand together to see succession. But why was he told all this? He would eventually forget everything in this dream when he wakes up.

When both silhouette achieved their victory, they faded into nothingness.

It revealed to him a new person in the distance, one who looked exactly like himself, but different.

A brunette with piercing red eyes.

* * *

"WAKE UP, YA LAZY BUM!"

Rue jolted at the sudden kick at his ass. He turned and glared at the person who dared to hurt him and immediately stopped when he saw his boss was crossing his arms in anger.

The brunette had to show respect to the man. His boss, Pyre Colbar, was huge, muscular and littered with scars that was gained from being involved in countless campaigns whilst working with the force. He was a chivalrous man who'd acted upon his instincts to do what was right. Much like those heroes in the comic books Rue used to read when he was younger. Only this hero had gotten into an accident that injured his leg badly, so he had to retire.

Well, all that was fine, but the real reason Rue respected the man was the fact he was a firearms specialist and serviced the kingdom as part of the bomb defusing squad. Basically, Pyre was a senior in the department Rue had dreamed of working in.

"Sorry, Colbar… I didn't sleep well last night." The brunette groaned and tried to remember what he was doing. When he remembered that he was to clean out the dust in the barrels in some of the rifles, he made haste and searched for the tools necessary.

"'Ya had a rough night?"

"Slept on the floor and nearly got myself attacked." Rue muttered in irk, thinking of how annoying it was to lie on the floor next to a demon who didn't know what sleeping space (or personal space) meant and couldn't control where his tail should be at. He shivered at the thought of that insane tail nearly entering places he never knew could be entered.

He really wished that the librarian – he had yet to get her name – would quickly get healed so he can have his bed back and wished Dirge would just go back to his place, where ever it was – He didn't give a damn to where Dirge resided in, seeing as he seemed to enjoy coming over his place than staying at his own and believed it must be a dump compared to what he has now.

"Well, sorry I had'ta wake ya up." He laughed at the depressed brunette and patted his back before going to the entrance. "But ya can do it in yer break. I need ta be out fer a bit so ya gonna hafta watch the place."

Rue made a grunt of understanding to his senior and carefully took apart one of the rifle on display.

"By tha way. I took one of yer steam buns that ya was savin fer ya snack. Hope ya don't mind." When the entrance shut, the brunette simply glared at it in irk. Why does everyone want to take his steam buns? He sighed. At the same time, he grumbled in discontent. He had some good sleep and it was interrupted so suddenly by a kick in the ass. Well, it was better than a tail slithering up his back…

His nap just now was so peaceful, yet he couldn't remember his dream. Well, he knew it was normal tor forget every dream, but at least he'd recall a small fragment before it fades away from his memories. This one was just simply disappeared. Now that he thought about it, he had been having this same fleeting dream recently. And it perked his curiosity.

The brunette groaned scratching his head. He knew he felt snow and smelled blood. The shop he was attending was quite warm for his taste and reeked gunpowder and grease so those things must have lingered in his senses. As for sight, he could only recall seeing himself in a mirror.

'No wait… I saw blue eyes... And silver hair…'

Rue blinked as he scrubbed the dust off the barrel of the rifle.

'… It's him...'

* * *

He watched the passing students, joyfully talking to each other as they walked out of the gates in their happy faces. It made him smile as he tapped his pencil lightly on his sketchbook.

Then darkness took over his vision from behind.

"Guess who?"

"Irene"

His eyes were opened to the world once more and the fingers of a girl returned back to her. She, in her Centerpoint Private High School uniform, was pouting, arms crossed now. "Damn it! How did you know?! I even tried to change my voice!"

"No one else approaches me other than you, Irene." He chuckled lightly, giving another tap onto his sketchbook. Irene looked at him curiously and crouched down next to him. They were underneath a large tree, just next to the entrance of the school gates. The boy was simply staring at the passing people. It wasn't surprising that she got bored after a few seconds and stood up.

"You know… Yesterday… Two of them woke up… Lauren failed…" She muttered darkly into the sky. The sun was expected to set in a couple of hours. When she looked back down to him, he was still smiling. "Six out of Fourteen of them… They're half way from reuniting again…"

"… I know… They're quite fast…" He muttered back finally moving onto the next part of the picture he had been sketching. A paper fell onto his sketchbook. He took his time opening it and looking at the list of names and locations.

"I've finished my research. Those are the locations of the rest of the members we have yet to target as well as their so-called guardians sent by the gods."

"The Prime Knight is not on this list…"

"He seems to enjoy jumping around. So instead, I've gotten the name of the person who's providing him a proper shelter to return to every once in a while."

"That blond girl in my class who's transferring soon?" He questioned, as he continued to sketch. "Interesting."

The girl leaned forward in curiosity, looking at what he had been trying to express onto that piece of paper.

Two men of the same faces, drowned and lost in the darkness of a sword that destroyed their world. She recognized one of them as a local police officer who used to patrol around the area until recently. The other seemed like a host that she would see walking around in suits, next to a beautiful woman.

Either way, she giggled. "Hey… Shall I ask the Basil to hunt them down? He's more useful compared to the rest. Or can I do it? I've always wanted to kill handsome men."

The boy stood, grabbing his satchel along with him and shook his head. "You deal with that classmate of mine."

"Aww… But she looks so scary…" The girl giggled with sarcasm. "Alright. If you say so.. And what about those two?

The boy chuckled as he walked away, "I'll deal with them."

Irene stared at him and snickered. "So the boss is finally making a move, huh?"

* * *

"Haaap!" The girl yelled, slamming her broadsword fiercely on the earth in front of her. Her mentor jumped back and swung her sword forward, only to be blocked by the same broadsword. She smiled with satisfaction and jumped back.

"You're getting faster at handling the broadsword. At this rate, you'll be finished with my third job and ready to take on my final job in two nights." Proud of her hard work, Elesis puffed out her chest and patted the high school girl's head. "Well, I guess I did train you."

But Elaine merely gave her a half-hearted smile, making the saviour concerned. "But all this training will go to waste if I can't use it…"

Elesis blinked as she recalled yesterday's event. The high school girl was left out of the plans that they had been discussing together about reuniting the whole Grand Chase together and preparing of this evil that was going to strike them. Well, even the saviour herself was angry that she was left out. She was the leader of the Grand Chase, right?

….. Okay, let's correct that. She was the _self-proclaimed_ leader of the Grand Chase, right? Besides, they followed her orders without objections before.

But the saviour kind of understood what they were doing. In the world they were in, magic and swordsmanship weren't common and didn't seem like it could be easily expressed in public. She couldn't simply carry around her sword. And without her weapon, she was but a mere high school girl, powerless until she reached the age of 20, when she's recognized as an adult and free to move about.

And Rolan, Rivera and Mari, as adults, took charge as her guardians as they wanted to protect her.

'Man... This new world's really complicated…' Elesis sighed. But she was reminded of how her father had decided to go and join the Kanavan trackers to defend Bermessiah. To protect her…

"Elesis! Look!" The high school girl pointed behind her, making her jump around and get into her offensive stance. A new path had opened up to them, a much sophisticated looking one compared to Ronan's cobblestoned path and Ryan's flora covered dirt path. Purple glitter lightly showered over.

And two figures were approaching them from the distance on the path.

"…. Arme…?" Elesis lowered her sword and narrowed her eyes as she looked at one of them. Her sword clattered to the ground and she ran towards them. When she was close enough, she jumped onto one of them with open arms and screamed, "ARME, IT'S REALLY YOU!"

Her body stiffen at the sudden hug of the saviour. Nevertheless, the woman gave a hesitant pat on Elesis' back. "Ahh… Arme's there."

The red head blinked and jerked away from who she hugged. She noticed how the woman was actually as tall as she was, and much mature looking. Looking next to her, she saw a shorter version of the woman, who had a childish pouting face. "Elesis! The least you can do is to remember which one is me!"

"… Oh sorry… I didn't see you there, shorty." Quickly covering up her clumsy side, she smirked and made a tease at the battle mage. Arme whined in protest quickly after that, but when she calmed down, they quickly shared a welcoming embrace. "Arme.. It's good to see you again…"

"Likewise, Elesis…" The Battle Mage smiled as she let go. She saw a high school girl approaching them. "This must be your current self?"

"Elaine Sieghart." Like her senior, Elaine had puffed out her chest with pride, gripping onto her broadsword on her side like a true warrior.

"I'm Aisha Grimmoire." The librarian spoke softly, going around the battle mage from behind and approaching the high school. "Wow… I'm impressed that a high school girl like you appear so confident about this than most of us…"

Elaine couldn't help but sheepishly smile. On the other hand, Elesis smiled at the sight of her junior feeling much better now that there was someone who she could talk to. If she and Arme were best friends, there wouldn't be any problems with Elaine and Aisha. The saviour then turned to Arme. "How did you wake up? And how did you get here?"

"Mari dropped by our world the night before and told us about how to visit others in their dreams." Elesis nodded, remembering that the battle mage was the few people in the Grand Chase that the Geas was close to. So maybe with that, could Mari's world be visited via Arme's? Let's think about that later on, she thought when Arme continued, "as for the matter of our awakenings, well, I had some help with Dio and Perseo."

"Dio?! And Perseo?! Seriously?!"

"Yeah. Dio was awakened just after mine. That demon's method is quite a shocker… I don't think I'll ever understand their kind…" Arme shivered, remembering how the undertaker had suddenly disappeared into the void only to reappear as a demon on the other side. "And as for Perseo… Well, I didn't really have a clear clue, but we saw his orbs of destruction guiding us and I saw a human version of him for a while. I haven't seen him since…"

"Why?"

"… Aisha's body couldn't take the strain she went through after fighting the Lich and with the amount of fire magic I used… Well, her body's exhausted…" Instantly, the saviour growled just hearing the name of the Lich. They never did have a great relationship, considering he tried to attack them twice – in the Forsaken Burrows and near Hell's Bridge. Arme immediately changed the topic. "But it's good to see her up and about in this world."

They saw the librarian and the high school girl at the side; already busy talking together as if they were old friends. Elesis nodded, noticing how the sadness in the red eyes of the high school girl had disappeared. On the other hand, she noticed how the librarian's eyes sparkled brighter than before.

"Hey Elesis.. Mari said you guys were a bit down when Elaine couldn't do anything for now." Arme said, as she took the hand of the saviour. "But you know… The reincarnated Grand Chase will still need a great person to help us regroup and lead us…"

"… No it doesn't." Elesis spat immediately and looked at the red haired teen, already swinging her broadsword into the air, like any commanding officer. "We already have Elaine."

**Chapter 10 - End**

* * *

I guess after sitting in the corner for a while, black and white rainbow spit was spilled on my head and I started writing.  
In this chapter, its mostly plot, plot, plot, steam buns, plot, plot, plot and plot. Something to cool down from the fight from the previous chapter. When I reread it again, it felt like a little disappointing considering that I left off the previous chapter at a good moment (sorry about that!)

In my defense, I wanted to write about Rufus - I like him, nuff said - and a bit of how Dio's messed up mind made Dirge a full-fledged demon and how Dirge's tail can be too dangerous and how Rue's addiction to steam buns. And I didn't really like how Elaine/Elesis was left to pout on her own... I love a cheerful Elaine/Elesis.

Guess I didn't really notice it before until I realized I haven't talked briefly about Arme and Dio's vessels in the author's summary and I was a little shocked...  
I just realized I had named Arme's vessel Aisha. And apparently, one of Elsword's character is Aisha. And she's some mage girl as well! D: THIS WAS PURELY COINCIDENTAL! I know nothing about Elsword...  
Dirge Steamrift = Very cool name. Nuff said. No objections or the King of Destruction will destroy everything.  
Rue Gatling = Gatling guns are the mother of all rapid-fire guns (as in, gatling guns were the one of the first rapid-fire guns and the best in its era) and so I had Rue's surname Gatling. Other than that, I chose the Gatling gun because of its nature as a rapid-fire type, seeing as Rufus is a dps type in-game.

... Steam buns... They're so bite-sized and tasty. Who doesn't like them? :D  
Or maybe Rue has a special ability to make his steam buns very delicious...

Which reminded me of my recent PvP matches. Yes, I suck eggs at PvP, but the least I did was kill some people with the power of the brothers...  
and I learned how Dio and Elesis can get scary in PvP... -laughs in fear-

I can't seem to recall what else I wanted to mention here except for my gratitude to WinterBarrows and Miss Eggplants for cheering me up -blush-  
Oh and thank you to R-Trigger. I'm a little confident about it now and went on weapon side :)


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Let's take a stroll to Nymph's Garden, Kanavan**

The silver haired man took his time walking down the paths of Kanavan's largest gardens, the Nymph's Forest. He enjoyed the green life that surrounded him and the beaming sunlight that shone over him. This place was the only place that he felt at peace.

The new don of their mafia organisation, Kamille, had sent him away as she tried to adapt to the new jobs that was presented to her. He could remember her scowling face, looking at the massive workload she had to do and the amount of names, companies, and connections she had to remember. Well there was another reason he was shooed away…

The subordinate thought of returning to where both she and Fritz had raised him up and gave him a new perspective to life and bringing back something nostalgic for her to enjoy. Looking onto the next left, he saw the old orphanage that Kamille had sent him into to live in, one Fritz was in charge of. Apparently, Fritz was someone who had healed the purple haired woman's heart from a scarring deep wound. He dared not to ask anything about her past - she had already warned him from doing so.

A lanky man stood out at the orphanage's front yard, holding hands with a couple of children and forming a ring with them. From their carefree voices, he could tell that they were playing Ring-a ring of roses or something like that (Honestly, he couldn't remember those games anymore). The man's gold eyes blinked at the sight of the silver haired and smiled at him.

"Lorraine, it's been long. How are you?" He hushed the children away as they continued their games and walked up to the silver haired man.

"I'm alright," Lorraine smiled back before they shook hands. Upon closer inspection, he noticed how the tall lanky man had grown slightly thinner than before, as well as the dark circles that surrounded his eyes. It was obvious to anyone that the man had been working too hard and hadn't had a proper rest in ages. Besides, he was paler than his usual self and his gold eyes were as dull as his blue hair. Even the rims of his glasses he wore seemed broken.

Well, Fritz Srenpet was the caretaker of the Alstroemeria Orphanage of Nymph's Forest, Kanavan. He had a house full of children to look after and even spent every ounce of his spare time taking care of the gardens, strays and others who he had been acquainted to for some time. He was a kind, understanding man who saw the good in everything. And it sometimes worries Lorraine that he might get caught up in something worse. Especially when….

"Dad…"

Fritz was also the man's father. Adoptive father, but a good father as well. Lorraine could remember whilst he was still living in this orphanage, Fritz was the only adult who smiled at him with care whilst the rest gave him suspicious looks for his mysterious aura that surrounded him (Kamille was an exception – she was a 'young adult' and she always seemed to be too complicated for him to understand).

"Um… Anything happened whilst I was gone?"

"Nope. No loan sharks, no hitmens, no assassins, no threats. Nothing of the sort." The man laughed, understanding the concern of his son. Lorraine groaned to how lightly the man took it, especially when he knew that his son had followed Kamille and joined the Silver Rose Mafia, a dangerous organization that ruled in the underworld of Kanavan.

"Well, what brings you to this part of Kanavan? Is it your day off again?" Fritz chuckled and Lorraine nodded slightly. The subordinate had always been too busy upholding their mafia laws to drop by at where he was once raised in, especially with Kamille as his capo (It was a wonder Fritz had simply supported whatever path he chose in life to do, even when it meant that he was going to be part of a mafia). It was only at his holidays do he realizes how much he's been missing the place.

But this time around, he couldn't help but feel a little guilt.

"Somewhat… Solera said I'd cool off if I came here…" He muttered lowly with a little sadness. His sorrow was immediately picked up by the older man, upsetting him immediately as he frowned.

"Well, if she had sent you here, then it must have been a serious fight," Fritz sighed reluctantly, shaking his head with disbelief. The silver haired man didn't have to say anything more to make the man realize more than what he seems to be understanding. Fritz had known both he and Kamille for so long, it wouldn't be a surprise if anyone would mistook him as their actual father.

The caretaker knew that whenever Lorraine came over these days, it was either because he had a day off from all his business, or he was sent back home to cool down after having a dangerously heated argument with Kamile. He wondered for a while how she's been doing before he invited the man into the building. It took him a while to keep the curious eyes of the children off of Lorraine though. Yet Lorraine laughed, remembering the last he came by, he had somewhat became their temporary older brother.

"They had been hoping you'll come back you know…" Fritz smiled as he served the man with a cup of tea. Immediately, the subordinate nodded with gratitude and took the cup. He couldn't help but grin behind his cup at the faint sounds of children in the hallways, peeking into the kitchen they were in.

"I didn't expect to play with them last time… I just wanted to visit you and quietly leave."

"Thank Joey that the kids like you, eh?" The caretaker laughed. Lorraine followed suit as he set down his tea cup. He could remember his last visit so clearly – it was a day off, by the way. He brought a cake that he wanted to present to the caretaker, as well as the kids of the orphanage and spend an afternoon talking of the old days with the older man. Instead, a red head confronted him as he entered the gates of the orphanage.

* * *

_"Who are you? This is private property and I know how to fight…" The red head growled with a burning flame in his gold eyes. His fists were wrapped with layers of bandages and his face was littered with scratches and the sorts. Lorraine was surprised, of course, to meet such a boy confronting him so suddenly at his old home. In all his visits back, he had never seen the children there look at him, let alone approach him. They all knew from Fritz that he was someone with the mafia and feared him._

_This hot blooded, red head must be new to the orphanage then. That's what he assumed as the boy showed ignorance to his refined appearance as a mafia._

_"An old friend of Fritz. Look." Lorraine held up the box that was used to carry the cake. "I even made the old man a cake."_

_Yet the red head still showed caution as he scanned the item in hand. After what seemed like hours of interrogating what the cake was really made of and what else the man had in possessions – which were a cell phone, a wallet, a pocket knife and a hand gun - he growled with suspicion. "The handgun, I'll confiscate it. Then you're free to enter."_

_"…. Give a kid like you a gun? That's a crime, kid. I'm not doing it."_

_"And you're a mafia, aren't you? You guys do crime as a living every day." As he said so, the boy stuck his tongue out briefly. His rebut made Lorraine furious, but he tried to calm down. He was simply dealing with a rebellious teen younger than him by a couple of years, there was no need to be frustrated over the child._

_"Then you do not know the true meaning of what a mafia organisation is," Lorraine growled, giving the red head his most dangerous killer glare. Instantly, the teen flinched in fear to the sudden glare of blood lust, but he dared not to back away. Instead, he stood his ground and went into a battle ready pose, gulping down what could be his last._

_"Come now, Lorraine. You know better than to pick a fight with our newest brother of the Alstroemeria Orphanage?" A soft chuckle soon came from the back, soothing the tension that hung above them. Lorraine blinked and saw lanky old Fritz walking towards them from the building. "And Joey, you know better than to pick fights with random strangers who show no possible threat to us. Especially when he's my son that I've told you about."_

_ "T-That's your son?! You said he was a really nice man! This guy's a mafia!"_

_"He's a nice man who brought cake."_

_"Yes. Cake isn't such a dangerous killing machine." Lorraine added dryly as he scooted closer to the man he was much familiar with. "Here you go, dad. It's the usual cheesecake with strawberry filling." The subordinate couldn't help but hear a choked surprise from the red head as the caretaker accepted it with gratitude in his eyes. He saw that the gold eyes of the teen were sparkling – yes, they were really sparkling – at the gift that was received by the older man. "So the kid here is new around? Well he should know not to mess with me."_

_"NO WAY I'M LEAVING YOU ALONE WHEN I KNOW YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S SENDING THE STRAWBERRY FILLED CAKE!" Joey exploded as he scampered towards the silver haired man. "Tell me! Tell me! Tell me how you made it?! I've been to eeeeevery single bakery in the whole of Kanavan just to find it and I couldn't and then I thought that it could be that you yourself had been making it all along, so pleeeeeeeeaaaase! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!"_

* * *

Lorraine sighed at the brief memory. He knew he had sometimes sent cheesecakes over to the orphanage, but he didn't know that one of the new kids, Joey, would get addicted to it. After that incident, Joey had dragged him straight to the kitchen with aprons on and had him teach the lad how to bake the said cake. Before Lorraine knew it, he was surrounded by the other kids and chasing after them around the orphanage.

Truthfully, he didn't really expect he could actually do something like that, even when he was still a kid. All he knew was to stay quiet and be obedient. Perhaps, Joey was like a new light to him, letting him explore the untouched childhood he had never lived.

"So.. Where is that brat anyways?" The subordinate looked over his seat slightly and then to the front lawn via window. There were no signs of a red haired kid anywhere. "I thought he was going to jump at me again when I arrive."

"He should be at the park with Cole and Mimi."

Lorraine nodded with understanding. He had learnt from Fritz that the house of the red head was burned in the midst of the night. His oldest brother had woken up first at the sniff of smoke and had rushed over to his younger siblings' room – Joey and Cole's. After rallying them all out, he had noticed that their parents have yet to come out of the burning inferno. Joey hadn't seen the three of them come out of the building until after the firemen came and rescued their bodies. The cause of death was suffocation of smoke and heavy burns around their body. None of his relatives could afford to take in three kids under their guardianship, so they were brought to the orphanage instead.

"Joey's got the same tough spirit as Cole. They did cry a bit in the beginning, but they both look forward now. It's amazing to see children, after being broken in such an ordeal, come back standing stronger and braver," Fritz chuckled, relieving Lorraine's unspoken question, as he remembered passing memories of every child he had met in the orphanage, including the subordinate's former little self.

"Though, how did they warm up with Mimi? I remember that she that one little girl who refused to say anything and join in any of the fun. I always saw her sitting at the corner looking outside…" Lorraine asked with curiosity. Mimi, to him and everyone else, was simply odd. She, unlike most children, wasn't so curious of anything and did what seemed beneficial to her. Nothing more, nothing less. Fritz replied with a confused shrug.

"Honestly, I know not myself, but she really likes to stick to the brothers, which is a good thing. At least I know whether she's growing up well or not. But let's stop talking about the children. What happened between Kamille and you?"

Lorraine blinked, finally remembering his true intentions to coming over the orphanage. He sighed behind his tea cup before he told his tale to Fritz.

* * *

Rue wished he knew not of these people who sat in his living room.

A librarian sat elegant-like, talking with an annoying high pitched voice with a selfish spike covered demon that sat opposite to her. In the middle, a freakishly tall (to him) black haired, an optimistic blond girl – still in her school uniform - and a concerned looking blond guy watched their dispute. And at the coffee table, was an empty plate of what used to be filled with his steamed buns he had been saving for a while.

"Why the hell are you all in this room?! And who the hell are you three, anyways?!" The brunette yowled angrily at them all, crushing the cigarette he had been smoking in his bare hand. He was too furious to even notice the stinging pain of burn on the palm of his hand. Yet the people in front of him showed no signs of any notice to his anger and just stared at him callously.

"Idiot. You're the one who didn't let me go out in public looking this cool." Dirge spat back at first. "So my minion here can't report anything to me unless she's comes here."

"I'm his minion, by the way~" Gisella chirped as she smiled and gave a short wave to the brunette.

"You're not." Stern was in the voice of the older blond man. Riku tightened his grip on his sister's arm. "I'm here because I'm not letting my little sister go into some guy's home alone, meeting this weird guy."

"I'm here because I have to talk with Dirge who's not moving his butt out of this apartment." Aisha said with the same blind courage as Dirge, except she lacked the rude tone that the demon possessed.

"I'm accompanying Miss Aisha.." Terry quietly muttered. He then returned to quietly reading his book.

Rue groaned in disbelief. In the end, it was his own fault that Dirge was cooped up in this small apartment. He didn't dare let the demon run loose around town with his freakish appearance. It could scare the whole bloody province, for Aernas' sake. And who was going to be at fault? Dirge would probably direct the blame towards Rue.

"So do you guys happen to know where the others are? I mean the vessels of the other Grand Chasers and the guardians." Aisha was the first to speak, forgetting the fact Rue was standing right next to her and feeling pissed. She dismissed his anger so easily, it actually mused Dirge. "I've met the Saviour and her vessel. She lives at South Kanavan. Apparently, she's also met the Vanquisher, Abyss Knight and Geas as well as their respective vessels."

"How the hell did you meet her?! You've been sleeping up until yesterday morning!"

"A train from down there to here takes an hour, Dirge." Gisella stated, only to be immediately hushed by the demon.

"My dreams. It connects with hers. Apparently it had something to do with the Chaser's relationship levels. So you can't connect with theirs because Arme says Dio was never close with the humans."

'That human's right. I didn't like any of them at all. They're all weak compared to me. Especially that imbecile who defies death…' Inside, Dio laughed. Dirge made a mental note to ask him who this imbecile was, a little curious to how someone could defy death. Maybe he could get this immortality and with the power of the dusk bringer in his hands, he could rule the world for eternity.

"Wait. You guys could talk to each other in your dreams…?! This is getting messed up now…" Rue groaned as he tried to follow. These past few days, he was constantly getting bombarded by the strange information of the Grand Chase from these people, especially Dirge. He, at first, didn't really want to bother with it and saw it as some childish game. But slowly, he began to notice how a lot of people were involved with it and how some incidents around Kanavan were beginning to make sense.

"Yes, dreams. We were all reached out by our respective ancestor Chaser by this weird repeating dream. If we woke up, we wouldn't remember it until we could finally call out their names and fully awaken them. It seems as Dirge had found a sort of spell that made him remember it though, making his awakening easier."

"Easier? I'm just that better than you people." Dirge snorted arrogantly, earning himself a whack in the face with a pillow thrown by Aisha.

"So Rue, had any dreams like that?"

The brunette stared at them. He couldn't say he had a weird repeating dream that he would forget so easily. To be specific, he had a slightly different dream, yet it all had a similar plot – he would be standing in front of a silhouette that fought without mercy, coating himself in blood and in the end, fall in exhaustion. And he would even remember slight parts of the dream, like the scent of blood and a faint sound of the wind getting cut into two. But just recently, his dream did change a bit, with a twist in its ending – another silhouette jumping in with guns and sorts, eliminating enemies with the swordsman and they would stand in victory in the end.

That wasn't weird, to him, at all. Blood and constant violence was something he had grown accustomed to. Dream? He rather call it a nightmare because it does annoy him to some extent. Repeating? Not so much. The silhouettes could be the chaser, but there were two of them, which would be extremely dumb if he ends up with two souls of two chasers inside him. So that possibility was crossed out.

Wait… He did recall something weird… A song or some sort. And it always repeated itself. Quietly to himself, he hummed it.

'Watch over him vigilantly, Striker of the Silver Cross. Wandering as an outcast, he sentences judgment to all. So the darkness may never be purified by innocence. Together, they strive to defend what they hold precious.'

"No. I don't have a weird repeating dream." Rue concluded. That song had nothing to do with the Arbiter. What the heck was a Striker anyways? And the Silver Cross? What the heck was that? It must have been a mix up of some gang names he had heard in his research. And sure, he understood the darkness should never be purified by innocence – Not all who live in the dark were bad anyways. And besides, Rue looked at Dirge, if anyone could purify that thing, the world would shatter (An angelic Dirge would be a disaster *shiver*).

Together? What does that mean? He shook the thought out of his head.

"Cause he can't remember it, of course," The purple demon sitting across the room snorted. "Gisella, if you find that book that you first lent me, we can go find that spell and get his awakening over with. The sooner this whole thing is done, the sooner I can think of how to rule the world."

"Rule the world? Dirge, these powers are not to be played around. We have a duty to the world." Aisha squeaked against the demon, leading to yet another clash of retorts filled with rough rude words. Not even Rue believed that the librarian would have the guts to go against such a demonic creature. Then again, if what she said was really real, she had the powers of the battle mage to back it up.

Rue then saw the three people were sitting in idle due to the bickering of the 'main characters'. "So I take it that you two are the so-called 'guardians'? So did you guys dream some shit as well to know you're guardians or something…?"

"Nope." Gisella shook her head enthusiastically. "If you want a straight forward answer, we are actually the puppets created by those who formed the New-Order Chaos Resistance."

"New-Order Chaos Resistance…?" Rue repeated with a questioning tone. "That's it?"

Terry lifted up his head from his book and looked straight to the crimson eyes of the brunette. "The Gods foresaw that the rebirth of chaos was imminent, so they formed this group to discuss any means possible to ensure that the good would be prepared to retaliate back against chaos. So they traced down the whereabouts of the Grand Chase's souls and found out there were multiple times that evil had attempted to destroy those souls completely. So we, the guardians, were created to ensure those souls would be passed down from generation to generation safely until the day when they could wake from their eternal slumber and rise for battle."

"By the way, I'm created by the-" The blond was suddenly gagged by her elder brother. He didn't wear the stupid looking smile he had when he first came into the room. Instead, Riku seemed serious instead.

"We're not to mention which of the Resistance we work under for safety measures." Riku growled, "The members of the Resistance still do not trust each other fully and are risking a hell lot of themselves just to even send us here on earth to guard the Grand Chasers, especially after the First-Order had disbanded…."

Rue didn't question further of the Resistance. He grew to understand that whoever these people were, they just wanted the world to be protected to the point they'd even kill themselves to keep their trump cards, they're only arsenal against this rising Chaos safe from harm. And he, apparently, was one of the soldiers of this arsenal, which he did not enjoy knowing. The trust issues could've been due to some sort of betrayal or treason or some sort in the First-Order. So that meant that there were a couple of enemies disguising themselves as the good people. They had to be careful with which people to trust then.

"… So does that mean I have a guardian as well….?" He shivered at the thought of it though. The person must have been following him his whole life and watching over him until now. Rue could almost imagine the person as a stalker or some sort. Then again, if it was a stalker, his detective instincts would've detected him easily.

"Should be. They would be someone you see as a close friend or someone who could keep an eye on you regularly which you take for granted." Terry grunted, seeing as Gisella couldn't speak anymore with her mouth tightly shut by her elder brother. He made a short glance at the detective and noticed how concerned the man seemed. "Look, if you're so worried about it, why not just give in to the whole thing and admit that you're interested in joining the whole Grand Chase…?"

"Screw that whole thing. It's simply a waste of time," The brunette grunted back as he walked towards the kitchen of his 2-LDK apartment. They all could sort it out themselves, couldn't they? A difference of one person less wouldn't do any effect, no? Besides, he had other troubles to sort out. For starters, he was late for his afternoon shift at work. As he opened his fridge, he noticed not a single sight of his stash of steam buns. He clicked his tongue in anger – figures Dirge must have eaten them whilst he wasn't around. And then Aisha just had to make herself at home and take some more out to serve the so-called 'guests'. He ought to just kill them all with that magnum of his that he's been hiding under the kitchen counter.

The red eyes had accidentally taken a glance over to the group discussion. They were so serious that it did freak him out a little. Then again, they were talking about saving the whole world against this so-called Chaos.

What was this chaos anyways? Rue never did hear any of them mentioning the details of this destruction to the world. Perhaps it was something that was only left unspoken, to keep morale high as they seek for more warriors to prepare for war. Or they were simply shared in their 'dream world' that they spoke of, where they were also guided with their warrior ancestors, to have a discussion on their strategy on this chaos. Maybe then, would they give an insight on what this chaos was all about.

Or perhaps… They didn't know of it?

"OI! If you're going out, at least tell us!" Rue snapped out of his thoughts and found himself standing right in front of his door. The vessel of the Dusk Bringer stood behind him. His tail was flicking in irk. The ex-detective was, of course, surprised that the demon actually showed concern to his well-being. Was it because Rue was the vessel of the Soul Arbiter and they were worried he might be unsafe walking about so freely and unprotected? (Though, he knew well that he could protect himself with ease).

"Going to work."

"Bring back some more snacks home, will ya? I finished off the sweet buns you hid at that secret compartment in your fridge as well."

"To hell with you all!" Rue shouted as he marched out of his own apartment and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

"Ah… Is that what happened...?"

Lorraine nodded quietly to his father, looking down to his feet like a lost little child. But with all honestly, he really felt like one as well. He didn't know what else to do nor what could he do now.

"The commission agrees with her because they think it'll benefit them greatly. The other captains agree with her because they hadn't felt blood as thick as the mafia wars years ago since the previous don had decided to stop anymore heavy bloodshed… So I'm can't do anything to change her mind. I knew since the moment she became the don, something she seemed to space out a lot… The whole thing's just outrageous…" The silver haired man spat, his bottled frustrations gradually leaking out.

"I guess it is… I wouldn't have expected Kamille's first command over the whole organization to be something as extreme as to conquer the whole of the underworld… And to think she even planned out a strategy to destroy each group and take over a territory one after another…." The man sighed in disappointment as well. Even he did not expect that Kamille would turn out this way. Yet he shook his head. "Maybe she has something in mind… Kamille isn't someone who enjoys a bloodbath. That much I know."

"So you want me to join in the war?" He stuttered. And Fritz saw it – darkness in the blue eyes of his son. There was fear in them. Yet at the same, there was a mix of torment and horror.

He knew that Lorraine was a tough fighter, that he could mercilessly kill any opponent. He's heard it all from Kamille as well, that he was a natural with the knife and great at precision and accuracy, even under tension. Yet, not even once, did he ever hear the man take away anyone's live. Kamille had told him several times that Lorraine would even kick her behind to keep her from killing their enemies – so she learnt to simply leave them knocked out and later on, call someone to come by and get them out of the place.

'… It's obvious Lorraine doesn't want to kill… Not even if that person was a cold-hearted sociopathic murderer, Lorraine wouldn't sentence him death…' Fritz thought as he reached out to his son. He lightly pat the silver hair, ruffling it lightly. 'This must have something to do with the boy's mysterious past.'

From the start, Lorraine never did mention anything that happened to him before he met Kamille. Whenever asked, he would immediately quiet down and look away, telling them that he knew nothing and he couldn't remember anything. It was an obvious lie. Yet Fritz stayed patient, hoping that Lorraine would somehow open up by himself.

"Kamille… Didn't say how long you were to be here, did she…?" Fritz smiled, soothing the man's concern.

"…. Not really…."

"Then stay for now. I don't think she's sent you here specifically if she thought there would be nothing here for you to do._"_

"Alright.."

* * *

"From Northern Territory to Nymph's Forest by bullet train takes half an hour. I get some supplies there, which usually takes about two whole hours. Return back in another half hour. That'll at least leave me with a chance to eat _my_ own steam buns that _I_ buy…"

Rue was actually somewhat happy to know that he was sent to do an errand in a place two districts away from where he resided instead of staying at the store and working on any firearms that need cleaning, fixing up or maintaining (Not that he hated doing those things at the store – he actually enjoys doing those things). It just meant that he didn't have to go back to his apartment early where all those people will be waiting there, horribly talking to each other about crap and nonsense that he didn't want to get involved with.

Besides, his usual errands were simply fetching ingredients from various places to make gunpowder. And he knew that there were three main components in making gunpowder; sulphur, charcoal and saltpeter. Sulphur was something only those with a licence to possess it could buy, so Rue didn't really have to worry about it. Charcoal could easily be taken from a supplier at the Blue Marina District – Kanavan's Royal Docks. Though there were times when he would go and test his own strength and mine it himself in the Jagged Path District – Home of Kanavan's Industrial Towns and Mineshafts (he's surprised that those mines have yet to die out).

Saltpeter (known as potassium nitrate by chemists) on the other hand, was something Rue didn't like to get.

Colbar told him that he used to dig up salpeter himself at a saltpeter cave before in Dragon Park. But the cave had to collapse for the construction of the railways of the train that links Kanavan to its neighbouring country, Serdin. So the old man had thought of an alternative to get saltpeter which was much economical and eco-friendly. But Rue didn't like it.

He sighed as he walked out of the bullet train and looked around. Nymph's Forest was Kanavan's garden district, filled with trees and flowers. And he admits that the place was peaceful. But he couldn't help but sigh. The district was also famous for the beasts – if you're lucky, you could even see a gorgon flying about - that were still allowed to freely move about, with rangers watching over them, of course. And when there were animals…

"They didn't call Colbar the Crazy Chief for nothing…" Rue sighed as he headed towards one of the closest petting zoos he could remember.

He hated this idea so much. Of all the ways to get saltpeter, he just had to resort to doing this…

Harvesting saltpeter from the urine of animals.

"Crazy Chief… I'll ask him to pay me extra for this…."

"Excuse me…"

Rue looked around to whom that was calling after him. Lilac short hair and dead black eyes was the first thing that grabbed the attention of the ex-detective. Then it was the school uniform he was using – it was Centerpoint Private school's uniform. What's a rich kid doing at a place so far from his place?

Actually, the more he looked at the boy's feature, the more he began to realize who this kid was. Rue had seen him on his patrols around Centerpoint a couple of times. He was always sitting under the tree next to the school entrance, doodling on some book. And those black eyes always stared back at him.

Was this kid that swordsman from… No… That wasn't possible… He's just a kid… Right…?

Besides, he remembered silver hair and blue eyes. He remembered _that_ guy.

"Um… Do you happen to know where Alstroemeria Orphanage is..?" He politely asked. Rue blinked, a little curious to why a rich kid would want to go to an orphanage. Then again, rich kids always went their own selfish paces (at least this one's polite). Searching his brain, the brunette tried to figure out which was the fastest way to reach the place. And it turns out his destination was just a few blocks away from the orphanage.

"I'm going to a place that passes by that building. Just tag along."

"Thanks sir," The boy smiled. Rue simply blinked back and walked ahead. Not even once did he ever took a glance back to the lilac haired

Rue swore he felt a shiver running down his spine.

* * *

"Lorraine…?"

"Hnn…?" The silver haired man groaned as he opened one eye lazily. Next to him, he saw that little grey haired girl he found odd. "Mimi…?"

"You were in pain when you were sleeping," She quietly said. "Was it a nightmare?"

Blue eyes blinked in confusion. Mimi, no matter how much he looked at her, was just too different. Her appearance was, well, quite different – she had long pointed ears and cadmium eyes. Truthfully, he would say it was nostalgic to see her, though he didn't know why. And that quiet, emotionless personality of her was something he felt he had come across before, yet he didn't know who.

But he was mostly confused to why Mimi seemed so concerned about him now. She would simply ignore his presence – or anyone's for that matter (until Joey and Cole came). "Um… It was something like that… I guess…"

"What was it like…?"

"Uh…" Lorraine paused for a moment. What was he dreaming that could cause him pain? Surely he would remember after seconds of waking up. And if it was a nightmare, it would've stayed in his memory long enough to scare him for a moment. Yet he couldn't remember a single bit of the dream. "Sorry. I don't remember."

"Close your eyes and use your other senses."

He didn't know why but Lorraine followed the little girl's commands. It was obviously odd enough for her to worry about him. But it had become bizarre that she was helping him and he was obediently following her words.

Yet surprisingly to him, he felt the cold air – it was snow. And he tasted the smell of blood around him as well. Though, those things were normal to him. He had once live though one of Aernas' toughest winters in the streets. As for the blood, well, he's gone to enough fights to recognize the smell in an instant. His ears perked at a blurry banging sound. Handguns firing at a rapid speed. And there were explosives everywhere, all coming from one direction.

"A war…? No, a battle…" Lorraine muttered. "A man coated with guns, destroying everything with firepower…"

"Anything else…?"

"… A song…" Lorraine spoke softly. "_Watch over him vigilantly, Arbiter of the underworld. Day by day, he coats himself with blood and sins. So the light may never be tainted by the corruption. Alone, they suffer an unreasonable consequence._"

"That is not right…" Mimi finally concluded as the man felt the removal of weight next to him disappear. He reopened his eyes to see that she had jumped off the couch. He wanted to ask her, what she meant by her words. What was not right? But she had spoken before he asked. "…. That message… It is not for you… It is the Arbiter's…."

"The wha….?"

"Lorraine~!"

The call of a random child from the hallways jolted the gray haired girl. Immediately, she dashed for it, leaving the man simply dumbfounded. What was an arbiter? He thought, And why was it given to me instead of him?

"Lorraine, there's a pretty guy who wants to see you outside."

"Alright, alright…" He groaned as he got up slowly, growling to himself never to sleep on the couch again. How was he supposed to realize that the children actually hid toys underneath the pillow? Besides, he was too tired out to move after he lied down. But now, he grew a little tense, with his hands ready to reach for his knife.

He told no soul but Kamille that he was going here, Alstroemeria Orphanage. So who was this 'pretty guy' that wanted to see him.

Lorraine took a peek at the front door from the hallway and literally saw a pretty teen, waiting quietly for him. Yet the man didn't lower his guard and kept his hand over his knife. "Yes…?"

"… Lorraine Srenpet… We need to talk… Care to step out a little. I don't think it'll be an appropriate conversation with children around." The lilac haired teen looked at him with his black eyes and smiled as he gently opened the entrance.

Lorraine blinked.

There, a brunette stood at the gates of the orphanage.

Blue eyes met red and lightning sparked in between them.

"It's you…"

**Chapter 10 – End**

* * *

Finally, I've kicked myself out of writer's block and finished this chapter x-x"

I apologize for the long wait. It's entirely my fault for being a lazy ass. I won't blame it on my studies or anything or that'll be like running away from the problem. So... Yeah. I'm done.

I've named the orphanage of where Lorraine and Joey lives Alstroemeria Orphanage - Its a flower and it means friendship. Pretty, no? And besides, its how Lorraine's friendship with Kamille and Fritz, as well and Joey really started their friendship and stuff -3-  
Rue hates everyone after his steam buns are all eaten... Poor him... Please give him some? hahaha  
So there's a little more of the Guardians. I bet quite a number of you have already guessed who's commanding who, eh? Hahahah...  
As well as a little of the Geography of Present!Kanavan... not that anyone would care...

And today, we learnt how to make gunpowders! Yay! Though those three (Sulphur, saltpeter and Charcoal) are the main components to make gunpowder, it won't be much to make it really explosive and stuff. There are other stuff that is needed that I will not mention for safety reasons. But if you're all interested, there are actually several sites that shows you how to make your own fireworks~ Just don't terrorize stuff, please... I rather not be the influence to the destruction you guys make. Blame Rue~ :3

Oh and saltpeter doesn't necessarily come from piss as well. I think you can also find it in toothbrushes and some medicine (no, it doesn't control male hormones as most urban legends state). Sulphur on the other hand, can actually be found in poop (it causes the foul smell)... So I thought, maybe... JUST MAYBE... someone ought to try and destroy their toilet... eheheheh... (Though it probably won't work since there is lacking of concentration of both Sulphur and Saltpeter... And there's a lack of Charcoal too...).

As for Lorraine Srenpet - His name was going to be Laurance, but that felt a little... ugh... So it became Lorraine. Sides, there was this lion feel in the name Lorraine (though Lass has nothing to do with lions, I know). Srenpet is, of course, Fritz's last name, which is a cool name.

... I guess that's-Oh wait... Any Sieghart players out there? I'd like some tips and all for all his jobs (from Gladiator to Prime Knight) since I apparently suck at using him. Any little tip is fine, even if it's unusually insignificant cause I'm researching his battle movements and skills and what-not right now... Thanks in advance ^^

And have a lovely day all!


End file.
